
Book __ 



Copyright^ 



i± 



COttT.ISHT DEPOSOi 



/ 






o t 



- 
It 



Canadian Leaves 



History, Art, Science, Literature, Commerce 



A Series of New Papers 



READ BEFORE THE 



Canadian Club of New York 




Canadian Leaves 



History, Art. Science, Literature, Commerce 



A Series of New Papers 

1 



READ BEFORE I ill 



Canadian Club of New York 



■ Awake, my country, the hour of dreams is <i ! 

Doubt not, nor dread, the greatness of thy fate.'' 

KoBF.RTS. 



t ^EDITED B\ 

G M?*FAIRCHILD, Jr. 

Vice- Pre-. C. C. 



ILLISI K.-\ I ED BY 

THOMSON WILLING 

A. K. C. A. 





NEW YORK 

NAPOLEON THOMPSON ^^ CO., PUBLISHERS 

51 \nd 53 Maiden Lani 

1X87 



Yi 



&$ 







Copyright 1888, by Napoleon Thompson & Co. 



DEDICATED TO 

Ills EXCELLENCY 

THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE 

GOl 'ERN( 1R GENERA L 
of the 

DOMINION OF CANADA 

AS A TOKEN OF THE ESTEEM IN WHICH HE IS HELD BY THE 
CANADIANS RESIDENT IN NEW YORK 



PREFACE. 




N apology is not needed in present- 
ing this work to the Public, hut 
one is due to the early subscrib- 
ers for the delay in its appear- 
ance. A fire in the building 
occupied by the printers caused 
almost a total destruction of the 
printed sheets and necessitated a suspension of work 
for some time. 

It is rare to find gathered into one volume so 
brilliant a series of original papers by so many distin- 
guished authors and scientists. I feel a just pride that 
the pleasant task of editing them should have fallen to 
my lot. I have endeavored to give them a setting 
worthy of their value, and in this laudable effort 1 



vi Preface. 

have been most ably seconded by Thomson Willing, 
A. R. C. A., the illustrator, and by the publishers 
Napoleon Thompson & Co., both of whom have spared 
no pains to produce a handsome volume, pictorially 
and typographically. 

The Canadian Club of New York is to be con- 
gratulated upon its wise policy of having instituted a 
winter's series of entertainments that are not alone 
delightful reunions of Canada's sons and fair daugh- 
ters, in voluntary exile, but which have kept alive their 
interest in the affairs of our great Dominion of Canada 
through the clever papers which have been delivered 
before the Club upon Canadian topics. 

G. M. FAIRCHILD, Jr., 

Editor. 



New York, 

December, i88j. 



Table of C 



AHLK OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Dedication, . . . . . . . . .II] 

Preface, ......... V 

Table of Contents VII 

Errata, Yin 

The Future of the Dominion of Canada, I 

By Edmund Collins. 

The Schism in the Anglo-Saxon Race, ... 19 

B) Goldwin Smith, M. A., I). C. L. 

The Great Canadian North-West, ..... 59 
By Rev. John C. Eccleston, I). I). 

The Humorous Side of Canadian History, ... 93 

By J. W. Bengough, Editor Toronto Crip. 

The Heroines of New France, ..... 107 

By J. M. LEMOINE, V. R. S. C. 

Literature in Canada, . . . . . . . 129 

Bj Geo. Stewart, Jr., D. C. I.., K. R. G. S., F. K. S. C. 

Echoes from Old Acadia, . . . . . 145 

By Prof. Chas. (i. I). ROBERTS, Kings College, Windsor, N. S. 

Commercial Union between Canada and the United 

States, ......... 175 

By lion. B. BUTTERWORTH, M. C. 



viii Tabic of Contents. 

PAGE. 

The Mineral Resources of Canada, . . . .217 

By John McDougall. 

An Artist's Experience in the Canadian Rockies, . 233 

By John A. Frasek, R. C. A. 

Canada First, ......... 247 

By Rev. George Grant, D. D., Principal Queen's University. 

The Advantages of Commercial Union to Canada and 

the United States, 269 

By Erastus Wiman. 

The Canadian Club, . . . . . . . 283 

By G. M. Fairchild, Jk. 

Canadian Club Officers, 1887, ..... 291 



ERRATA. 

Page 3, line 5, for who seek, read, which seek. 

" 108, line 23, for guiding-hallow, read, guiding-halo. 

[13, " 15, for introduced to court, read, introduced at 
court. 
Page 1 [3, line 16, for in waiting of , read, in waiting to. 
115, " 20, iox laying, read lying. 

141 f " 25, transpose Picturesque Canada after Ocean 
to Ocean. 




THE FUTURE OF THE DOMINION 

OF CANADA. 



•/ 



EDMUND CO I.I.I XS. 



An Address delivered before the 
Canadian Club of .Wr,' ) 



< )ME of the greatest historians of the 
olden times, for the purpose of illus- 
trating a nation's greatness, would 
only take into account the number 
of her spear's on the land, and of 
her galleys on the sea ; and it must 
be confessed that, even in this age 
industry and peace, we arc not a little 
proud of our battalions and of tin 
thunder of our turret guns. 

In dealing with Canada, we have more substantial elements 
to fire our eloquence ; we have her boundless acres, her limitless 




2 New Papers on Canadian History, 

forests, and the exhaustless treasures of her mines and seas. 
Under the Confederation immense strides have been made in 
national development, and this I think ought to be a guarantee 
for the future. 

But, after all, there are several gentlemen in Canada, who 
are not satisfied with the Union. Indeed, at very frequent 
intervals, some patriot who has failed in the pulpit or at the 
bar, who has brought a country school into disrepute, or 
added to the population of a graveyard, arises among his 
countrymen, and declares that the Confederation must be 
smashed. The intensity of his eloquence on such an occasion 
will be commensurate with his wants. If he is able to scrape 
along at all, he will not be very fierce, and will receive no great 
attention ; but if there is neither brief, nor school, nor pulpit, 
nor consumptive in sight, he rises to the very highest pitch of 
patriotism, and some admiring organ of public opinion puts 
an "extra" at his disposal. If, in the experience of Dr. 
Johnson, "patriotism was the last refuge of a scoundrel. ' in 
ours, treason is the first refuge of a patriot. 

I presume that those who hear me are not unaware that 
Nova Scotia has lately passed resolutions affirming a desire 
for separation, and there is a rumor in the air that New 
Brunswick wants to get adrift. I do not believe that these 
ideas will prevail; but they have undermined faith in the 
solidity of the Union, and Castle Garden receives the 
immigrant. It is no harm, however, to sin against the State. 
If you libel an individual, or decry his enterprise, the law will 
look after the matter ; but assail the country whose institutions 
protect, and whose kindly breast sustains, and the Governor 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ? 

will select you as his chief adviser or his Secretary of State. 
For my part, instead of providing- cabinet offices, I should 
prepare the cat and the pillory. 

It may not be uninteresting, if not precisely cheerful, to 
enquire about the fate likely in store for the provinces who 
seek separation, in the event of the possibility of their release. 
In spite of the Wealth which they boast of, to me they seem to 
stand up on the very verge of pauperdom. Enjoying the felicity 
of independence and isolation, each one would be a Lazarus 
at the gates of the Empire. We know very well that the 
expense of house-keeping, in Nova Scotia and in New Bruns- 
wick, is greater than either province is able to bear ; and either 
one or the other is always found at Ottawa, with a threat or a 
prayer upon her lips, asking for still " better terms." Let us 
suppose one of these provinces cast adrift. Her only sources of 
income would be the proceeds from the sale and lease of her 
timber and mineral lands, and the toll of the custom-houses. 

To-day Nova Scotia is almost completely stripped of her 
forest, and the area of woodland in New Brunswick is rapidly 
diminishing; and if there is but little income from the mines 
for the individual, there would be less for the public treasuries. 
The ship-yards are idle, and must remain so from now until 
the end of time; nor is there any industry in sight or in the 
distant future. Under the terms of confederation a sum of 
80 cents per head is set apart from the Dominion treasury, 
and to hope that this amount could be made up under the 
regime of divorce, from the little provincial custom-houses, is 
mere delusion. For the lack of responsible guarantee, the 
obligations of these provinces would go begging in the money 



4 New Papers on Canadian History, 

market. Capital and immigration would pass by their doors, 
and they would become the paupers of the Empire. 

It is the custom, among certain people in the East, when 
famine afflicts the land, to enter the temples and belabor 
with clubs their favorite idols. As the timber becomes scarce, 
and revenue falls off, these good people by the sea wax fierce 
in their denunciation of taxes, as if the most weighty and 
unjustifiable tax of all, that on coal, were not merely main- 
tained as a sop to them. 

However, it may be said, once for all, that Nova Scotia 
and her sister will be saved from themselves. For there is no 
road leading out of the Union. 

If, in discussing the prospects of Canada in general, I 
may be allowed to confine a few more observations to the 
maritime provinces, I should say that I believe their manifest 
local destiny to be maritime union. To superintend about 
a million and a half of public business, they have three petit 
kings, three houses of Commons, and at least two houses of 
Lords ; while in number the judges and chief justices, to borrow 
a fantastic comparison, are as the stars of the heaven. But let 
alone the fact that each province requires a legislature, a 
governor, a cabinet and a standing army of officials, to transact 
half a million dollars of business, there must needs be in 
addition the pomp and circumstance of presenting arms, firing 
salutes and decking out in uniforms and cocked-hats. 

I have heard many speeches delivered from those very 
provincial thrones at the opening of the legislature, and have 
noted some of their items. There is always a paragraph having 
reference to Providence and the harvests; and this seems to be 



Art, Science, Literature* and Commerce. 5 

quite fitting, for the harvests are about the only matter in their 
political economy in which the hand of Providence is to be seen. 
In New Brunswick, I once listened to one of those pretentious 
speeches from the throne wherein this passage occurred, the 
most important one of the whole communication : " During 
the year, my Government have given earnest attention to the 
affairs of the husbandman, and the improvement of stock ; and 
to this end have effected the importation of a superior breed 
of sheep.*' 1 turned to the itemized public accounts and found 
that the numerical strength of the importation consisted in six 
animals. Imagine putting on a cocked-hat and a sword to 
announce that a Government had brought in Canada six ewes 
and rams. 

To sum up the matter, one capable business man could, 
without governor or cabinet, without volunteer or the firing of 
rust\- cannon, effectually transact the whole affairs of the three- 
potty provinces by the sea. I think, therefore, that the conclu- 
sion any sensible man would arrive at in this connection would 
be that these provinces ought and must rid themselves by fully 
one-half of their present expensive administration. This can 
be accomplished by a maritime union, which would give for the 
three provinces one lieutenant-governor, one legislature and 
but one army of official dependents instead of three. 

An outsider listening to one of the maritime statesmen 
would assuredly hear him talk of retrenchments; hear him cipher 
how much the Lieutenant-Governor squanders in paint and 
coal-oil, and naturally would ask himself why in thunder no 
mention is made of the larger items? He would scarcely hear 
a word about maritime union, because maritime union would 



6 New Papers on Canadian History, 

be the death of fully one-third of the professional politicians. 
But, suppose this part of the difficulty removed, there would 
still be in the background the burning question : " Which 
province is to have the seat of government?" Nova Scotia 
would rather pay two dollars in- civil expenditure, where only 
one is needed, than that " The Island," or New Brunswick 
should be able to say that she was the home of the 
government. It will be seen, therefore, that so long as the 
question remains in its present shape, the three pinched provin- 
ces will go on maintaining their overwhelming system of 
magnificence and expenditures. 

There is, I think, one way out of the difficulty, and 
although I have elsewhere indicated the way, I may be 
permitted to once more refer to it. A few years ago, when a 
teacher made application for a school in a back district, the 
great difficulty in his way was the question of where to board. 
The thought that one settler should monopolize the honor and 
the profit of his domiciliation was in itself odious, and the 
matter was finally settled by his consenting to " board round the 
deestrict." Are we to infer from this, that if the government 
of these three little united provinces would consent to " board 
round the deestrict," the greatest obstacle to maritime union 
would be removed. 

Before discussing the governmental alternatives left to 
Canada, we must preface our remarks by stating that the 
political atmosphere should first be made purer if we desire to 
contemplate with pride the future of the country. There are 
now in public life in Canada some good men ; men who earnest- 
ly strive to use their talent for the general good : but, after all, 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 7 

such worthy ones arc few. For the greater part, politics arc in 
Canada what they arc in the United States, one of the lowest 
of all the games that offer success to ability devoid of honor. 
The best men, and the most thoughtful among them in cither 
country, are not to be found in political life; such men shrink 
from the ordeal which is the lot of the political candidate. 
The successful men are generally those who are popular in the 
billiard-room, liberal in treating at the bar, or foremost on the 
turf or lucky in the gambling pool. As a rule too, these men 
are without means and of no social standing ; they are devoid 
also of education and of the knowledge indispensable to com- 
petently help in the making of laws. If a man enters public 
life without fortune and stripped of all honorable ambition, it is 
deadly certain that his chief aim is to further his own interests. 
Given an unscrupulous politician at the head of government, 
and he will buy these men as a butcher buys a flock of sheep. 
It is true that these men give a semblance of patriotism 
to their movements by allying themselves with a party ; but 
this party has become a machine, and the harm that the 
machine does to public interests and public morals is greater 
even than could be accomplished by loose fish who held 
themselves aloof from either side. I take it for granted that 
there is a splendid opportunity in store for young men in 
Canada, provided they stand aloof of the machines and take 
as their watchword, not Protection or Free-Trade, but the 
purification of public life. I say the young men, because the 
older ones have already suffered themselves to be bound to the 
wheel, and to the end will go sinning for the party rather than 
bring upon their brilliant names the reproach of " turncoat." 



8 New Papers on Canadian History, 

I affirm, without dread of refutation, that our country is 
worse now, and not better, for her politicians. 

The Confederation is made up of interests more or less 
divergent, and of aims more or less conflicting ; there is a slight 
antagonism of religion, and there is fierce conflict of races. 
The best and the noblest deed patriotism could perform 
would be to restore harmony to that part of the instrument 
which is jangled and out-of-tune ; to seek and close up the 
joints in the Confederation ; to demonstrate that the interest 
of the many ought to prevail over that of the few ; that Canada 
is the country of the Gaul as well as of the Celt and the Saxon ; 
and, finally, that the triumph of the country as a whole, in 
civilization and prosperity, is of far greater moment than the 
success or the aims of a section, a creed, or a race. Mr. Gold- 
win Smith describes the French province as a wedge driven 
between the Eastern and Western sections of the Union ; but 
even this tenacious and exclusive nationality would in time 
blend into its surroundings if the politicians did not rekindle 
the old feuds periodically and were not continually unearthing 
for new discords. I do not think, however, that there is much 
room for anticipating that this province will readily submit to 
the logic of environment ; if there were, such a hope dwindles 
down to mere nothingness when we find that the execution 
of a man convicted of treason and murder furnishing a new 
source of discord and isolation. 

Before dismissing this chapter of my subject, I beg to 
point out one condition under which much could be done to 
improve political morals and draw men of character and 
fitness into public life. I think the honor of a seat in the 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce y 

slature should be of itself a sufficient reward to the 
slator. In England this is the rule, and instances like our 
own Pacific scandal, or the many frauds that blot political 
history in the United States is unheard of. 

In our country, as in the States, a man imagines that an 
evil political deed brings no personal taint; until men are 
made to feel a reproach upon their public honor as keenly as 
a wound, the life of the legislator can not be an honest one, 
his calling an honorable calling. Honor is everything to most of 
the men who serve in Westminster, and for honor alone do 
they seek the place; their fortune puts them above the debase 
ing influence money exercises, there we hear nothing of the sin 
so familiar to our own ears. 

1 am aware that it would be a grave injustice to the 
people of a young country to place its representation and its 
law-making power solely into the hands of those who could 
afford to serve without salary ; for, at such a stage in a nation's 
life every Cincinnatus handles his own plough. But the 
distribution of wealth is now wide enough to make the com- 
pensation one of honor; and wherever honor is the sole 
reward the best men only strives for the place. Admitting 
even that the twenty New York aldermen who perpetrated, in 
in the early morning, the foulest act known to municipal 
history, were not needy, we must concede on the other hand 
that they were the product of what is worst and dishonorable 
in the wards; if a higher standard of representation had 
obtained, candidatures as theirs would have been out ol the 
question. 



to Mew Papers on ( anadian llisti>> y, 

And now, l shall endeavoi i" brief!) discuss th( thrc< 
alternatives which the future holds i"i < anada : — 
First Federation with the Bmpire, 
Second Annexation i«» the United States, and 
Third The formation ot an independent nationality 
Federation is .1 vast scheme; nothing will ••<» capture 
and dazzle a Bmall mind as an omnipotent question I may 
state, for t he benefit ot those who maj have forgotten the fact, 
that the lust publit in. in ot note in ( anada to advocate 
Federation, was Sir Alexander Tilloch Gait; but, looking 
over the files of <>hl Canadian papers,] find that this same 
gentleman was at one time the leadei <>i .1 movcmenl In 
Montreal whi< i> soughl to bring about ann< Ration^ But, iui h 
as the idea is, I have to deny 1 redit for it', origination with Sir 

.Alexander, or for thai mallei with politician ll Was '"ii 

c cived \>y Mr. J ust in M < Carthy, who deals in somi very splendid 
kite-flying in the closing portion oi the history ot Oui Own 
rimes. Hut Mr. McCarthy derived the inspiration from 
Tennyson, who, as everyone acquainted with Locksley Hall 
knows, tells ns of .1 nine when the wai drum shall throb no 
longer, 

" And the battle flags i" furled, 
in the parliament "I man, the Fed< ration "I ii"- World 

I wonder that somebody ha not overtopped Lord Tcnny- 

on and taken in the moon. Sir John VI. k don.ild, on ,,< i ounl 

of whom I have hem blamed ("i having ovei praised him in 

my books, has latterly favored tlx Idea; hut Sir [ohn is now 

nearly seventy-two, and a medical friend of mine, Dr. Fergu on. 



// / ',/ n in i I 1 I, i ,i I ii i , ,i n</ < .'in in, i , , 11 

in fori ipon hi prof< ional reputation, thai atroph 

ii ( . brain b< jin i littl< aft< i dd ,- .1 1 b< 

1. in. mi;. i. .I .'.I1.1t iiiiin' ii- . ..11 oration, ii 11 1 

1 it. formoi 1 tai 01 1 pretty ribbon, ha* upon th< 
ol in< 11 

Wli.it pu//i< mi. 1 how im< 11 hi-. .11 John and 
.-.,-!' 1 thorough in • h< ii 1 .•.iMiin.iii.yii oi q 
in. 1 in j 1 i * 1 : ' j 1 1 • ni ihould hi ■• fail< d to find foui 

. t in- proj< 1 ' -my on< -.I .'. in- h I fatal 1 01 
net ill' fundamental notion in tfa ichem< I thi equality 
./I id. • .. ral portiom oi tlu Empfn but, if th< ■ 
[mpt rial 1 on 1 If ution ■ b< pr< < 1 /< d I 

. olonial r< tal (on in tin 1 1''" eof Lor< tli< 

< ommon«. ' olonial o( produce, thai J am 1 

<;f tin realm ; and the principle ol entail and primoi 
tun i« lacking to propagate tli< dignity and tin oi 8 

plant< 'I ]>• • i-r." Imagine the thin 

Collfi 

< III)) I 

J ii- ■ 11 affaii 

I m t)i< and tii' po ■■■• 1 oi ' •'• al \h 

glory, and the throb* oi tran port (ell ••' »li< heart oi th< 

Mi'/tli. rland thril but foi 

.ill th 

nhillii 

III. Ml I 

J . , | 

the brunt oi th 



12 New Papers on Canadian History, 

for him, because they maintain and augment the potency of 
the British name ; but the Canadian tax-payer does not want, 
and will not bear, any share in such burdens. It would be 
only folly to expect otherwise, and this feature of the question 
is not worthy of further discussion. 

Having disposed of these two barriers, let us picture to 
ourselves a contingent of representatives from Canada crossing 
the seas to discuss at Westminster whether a projected 
railroad bridge in Ontario should cross Swan's Creek or Duck's 
Puddle, and how much compensation deacon Estabrook's 
widow should receive for the slaughter of her cow or her 
husband by a government engine. Imagine the widow setting 
out from her farm to cross the wintry ocean in order to establish 
her claim before a listening England ! 

I suppose the question of divorce would be taken from 
the fond hands of the Ottawa senators to the House of 
Lords ; and what a glorious occupation it would be for the 
Howards and the Stanleys to sit and hear the petition and the 
evidence of Martha Smith, and decide whether, after all, it 
was not best to turn the said Martha loose again into the 
matrimonial market. 

Some one, among those present, will probably say that the 
Parliament of the Empire would have cognizance of only such 
questions as treaties, but three or four treaties in a life-time 
are about the number that past history has produced. 

Let me repeat the fact that there is still a mightier question 
behind all this ; it is found in the position that the heart of 
the Empire would occupy in relation to its outskirts. I am 
aware that our statesmen leave India out of the programme; 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, tj 

but, at the risk of repeating an old joke, I will affirm that this 
is like leaving Hamlet out of the play. Vet, even in doing 

this, I can, without danger of incurring the self-reproach of 
uiklness, permit my imagination to travel to a time when the 
population of Canada alone will exceed that of the Imperial 
Island: so, when the representatives of goodly Canada would 
move into the house at Westminster, you would have the 
spectacle which Dundreary has best described, that of the tail 
waggling the dog. 

Let those who smile remember that a federation on the 
mighty plan suggested is not a compact made for the span of 
a statesman's life, but a constitution fashioned to endure as 
long as the power and the glory of the British Empire last. 

For these reasons and for a score of other good ones, 
I do not deem the scheme of federation to be either wise or 
practicable. It is a splendid subject to talk about, and, after 
all. it would be a pity to deny politicians the opportunity of 
discussing something grand now and again. 

The second alternative is Annexation, and upon this I shall 
not waste many words. At the outset, allow me to remark 
that I can conceive of little in national ambition higher than 
a desire to form a portion of the mightiest Republic that the 
world has ever seen ; but, with Canada, annexation would not 
mean alliance, it would simply mean absorption. Canadian 
individuality of course would cease, while the material condi- 
tion of the people would not be improved. This, however, 
is a question about which we can only vaguely surmise. Hut 
1 think that those who, like ourselves, have had an opportunity 
of comparing certain republican institutions with corresponding 



i/j. New Papers on Canadian History, 

ones under English monarchy, can have no difficulty in giving 
the preference to those of the latter. 

I shall not dwell upon the spectacle of the ermine trailed 
through the party mire and beholden to the bad men who pull 
caucus wires, for I should have to speak with some bitterness. 
I contend that the administration of justice in this country is 
not, nor can it be held above suspicion ; for, it is not likely that 
the judge upon the bench can ignore the men who gave him 
his eminence ; he would be more than human if he were able 
to forget those who can, at a stated time, give him that 
eminence again. 

Nor would I, without a struggle, surrender the mild, I 
might say fictitious, kingly prerogative for that of the veto — 
which may be as arbitrary and capricious as the dictum of a 
Roman Emperor. If the veto is never arbitrary and never 
capricious, the man is to be thanked and not the constitution. 

It would be well too, for those who contemplate the 
grandeur of a political brotherhood extending from the 
Isthmus of Panama to the land of the Esquimaux, to ponder 
whether or not there may not be somewhere a breaking point 
in national expansion. 

Lastly, I do not think that our political vocabulary would 
gain much in elegance by the addition of such candidates as 
the " Mugwump" and the " Bloody Shirt." 

But, whether there be any force or not in my objections, I 
think that I am not over bold in affirming that our people do 
not desire annexation and never will accept it. 

Finally comes the proposal of national independence. 

At the risk of shocking some of my hearers, I will state as 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 1 5 

my belief that national independence is the more natural and 
logical future of Canada. I think it just as natural and just as 
logical that, in good time, the Dominion should end its con- 
nection with the cherished motherland, as it is for the boy, 
attaining man's estate, to leave his father's house and, single- 
handed, achieve his own fortune. But, come independence 
when it may, there will be no reddening of the land and no 
serious turmoil. 

Mr. Gladstone stated his belief, less than three years ago, 
that if Canadians were to inform the mother country of their 
desire and readiness to stand alone, Great Britain would not 
s.iv •' No." After all, it will not be necessary to kill my friend 
Colonel Dennison or any of those U. E. Loyalists who carry 
the integrity of Canada upon the blade of their sword. 

To put in a plea for Canadian independence, of course 
you are called upon to state the gains, and you are handed a 
bill of costs. Upon the list of gains I shall put first what 
some may count as nought, and that is sentiment : take 
sentiment out of the breast of man and he becomes a sordid 
grubber for his bread. 

Independence would stimulate national ambition ; it would 
give Canada a status in the eyes of the world, and divert 
immigration to her fertile lands. 

Furthermore, it would give her the power to make and 
fashion treaties in accord with her commercial needs, and 
give her a place among nations. 

Higher aims would prevail in the political sphere, and 
as a consequence ambition would be more lofty. In a word, 
it would eive that for which some of the noblest men that ever 



16 New Papers on Canadian History, 

lived, fought and bled and laid down their lives. I do not care 
to deal in heroics, but if the position of the guardian be 
higher than that of the ward, I take it that the standing of the 
independent state is superior to that of the dependent one. I 
do not see how there can be any dispute on this score. 

Some will say : " Granted, but your independent Dom ; - 
nion will be a mere weakling among nations. " And others 
may ask : " What can she do against hostile guns ? What 
is to hinder the Republic at her side from swallowing 
her up?" I deny that she will be a weakling. Her population 
is greater now, and her defenses are stronger than were those 
of the American colonies at the time of their revolt. Her 
population is greater than any one of nearly a dozen indepen- 
dent European kingdoms, and she has a wider area of fertile 
land than any country on the face of the earth. Alone, the 
valley of the Saskatchewan, according to scientific computation, 
is capable of sustaining 800,000,000 souls. And along these 
boundless stretches of fertile wheat-land, herds and flocks live, 
without housing, through the winter season. In short, the 
capabilities of this country, about whose future the misinformed 
have doubts, are so great that an adequate recital of them 
would be simply amazing. 

Let us now consider the dangers of an attack by hostile 
powers. In spite of all what pessimists may say, this is an age of 
peace and not of war ; nations are not growing more warlike but 
more peaceful. We have reached at last the age of commerce, 
and to-day the battle is that of the ploughshare and not of the 
sabre. I do not think that we need fear to see any grapeshot 
sent across the Niagara, for our good friends the Americans are 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iy 

quite too busy making money to embark into such a profitless 
occupation. They have given us abundant proof that war is 
not upon their programme ; for they maintain no mighty fleet 
nor grinding army, but only ships and muskets enough to serve 
as a police force on land and sea. Moreover, they remember 
that the Canadian volunteers knew how to fight as early as 1 8 1 2, 
and they have not forgotten some of the lessons we taught 
them at Chrysler's farm, Chateauguay, and Oueenston Heights. 
Looking into the future, I perceive my country spanning 
this broad continent, her bosom throbbing with life and great 
plenty. Upon the pages of her history I can read the record of 
her achievements, it is worthy of a land with so rich an 
inheritance. I see her artists kneel for inspiration before her 
majestic and lovely landscapes, while able pens are moulding 
the traditions and legends with which the land is so richly 
strewn into an imperishable literature, encompassing history, 
romance and song. 

Later on I imagine that I see a people— intelligent, thrifty 
and well-ordered— who, with roll of drum and the joyous waving 
of flags, celebrates the centennial anniversary of the birth of 
Canada; and I hear statesmen alluding to this nineteenth year 
of the Confederation, as the one which saw unworthy men 
strive to sever the ties of the sisterhood. Later on still, it 
seems as if I heard them relate with pride that in spite of these 
men's treason, the loyalty and faith of the people remained 
unshaken ; that they went on adding and building, striving and 
achieving, until they crowned their work with a nationhood 
that in the eyes of civilized mankind stood second to none in 
prosperity, intelligence and general contentment. 




THE SCHISM IN THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE. 



( An Address delivered before the 

GOLD W IX SMITH. M. A., D. C. L. X 

( Canadian Club of New York. 



N the strength of the Anglo-Saxon race, 
— of which British institutions, now- 
adopted by every European nation 
except Russia, the British Empire 
in India, and the American Republic, 
besides many a famous deed and 
glorious enterprise, are the proofs, — 
there lurks a weakness. It is the 
weakness of self-reliance pushed to 
an extreme, which breeds division and isolation. Races such 
as the Celtic race, weaker in the individual, are sometimes 
made by their clannish cohesiveness stronger in the mass. The 




20 New Papers on Canadian History, 

Celt seems to have lingered long in the clan state and to have 
had his character permanently moulded by it, while the Anglo- 
Saxon as a sea-rover came early out of that state and was trained 
from the infancy of the race to self-government. In enterprise 
and peril Anglo-Saxon will be the truest of comrades to Anglo- 
Saxon. But except under strong compression they are apt to 
fly apart. Even in travelling they hold aloof from each other. 
They quarrel easily and do not easily forget. Their pride 
perpetuates their estrangement. In their spleen and factious- 
ness they take the part of outsiders against each other. It is 
thus that the race is in danger of losing its crown. It is thus 
that it is in danger of forfeiting the leadership of civiliza- 
tion to inferior but more gregarious races, to the detriment of 
civilization as well as to its own disparagement. The most 
signal and disastrous instance of this weakness is the schism in 
the race caused by the American Revolution with the long 
estrangement that has followed, concerning which I am to 
speak this evening. 

You and I, gentlemen of the Canadian Club of New York ; 
you, natives of Canada, and some of you perhaps descendants of 
United Empire Loyalists domiciled in the United States; I, an 
Englishman, holding a professorship of History in an American 
University — represent the Anglo-Saxon race as it was before 
the schism, as it will be when the schism is at an end. We 
remind the race of the time when its magnificent realm in both 
hemispheres was one, and teach it to look for the time when 
that realm will be united again, not by a political bond, which 
from the beginning was unnatural and undesirable, but by the 
bond of the heart. While the cannon of the Fourth of July 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commtrce, 21 

are being fired, and the speeches are being made in honor of 
American Independence, we, though we rejoice in the birth of 
the American Republic, must toll the bell of mourning for the 
schism in the Anglo-Saxon race. We must ask ourselves, and 
so far as without offence we may exhort Americans to ask 
themselves, what the quarrel was about, whether it was such a 
quarrel as might reasonably breed, not only enmity for the time, 
but undying hatred ; whether it ought not long before this to 
have given place to kinder and nobler thoughts ; and whether 
by cherishing it and treating it as a point of national pride the 
Anglo-Saxon of the west does not disparage and traduce his 
own greatness. 

The relation of political dependence between an Anglo- 
Saxon colony and its mother country was probably from the 
beginning unsound, and being unsound it was always fraught 
with the danger of a violent rupture. Perhaps it may be said 
that nothing could have averted such a rupture except a 
prescience which the wisest of statesmen seldom possess, or 
the teaching of a sad experience such as has led England since 
the American Revolution to concede to Canada and her other 
colonies virtual independence. The Greek colonist took the 
sacred fire from the altar hearth of the parent state and went 
forth to found a greater Greece in perfect independence, owing 
the parent state no political allegiance but only filial affection. 
It might have been better if the Anglo-Saxon, fully the equal 
of the Greek in colonizing faculty and power of political 
organization, had done the same. In this way it was that 
England herself had been founded. But the sentiment of 
personal allegiance to the Sovereign in whose realm the emi- 



22 New Papers on Canadian History, 

grant had been born was strong in all feudal communities. It 
shows itself clearly in the covenant made on landing by the 
emigrants of the Mayflower^ nor had it by any means lost its 
hold over the minds even of men who took part in the 
American Revolution. In the period during which the col- 
onies were founded this sentiment was universal. The colonies 
of the United Netherlands were dependencies as well as those 
of the Spanish, French, and British monarchies. They were 
dependencies, and as such they were protected and supported 
by the military power of the parent state. Had the British 
colonies not been protected and supported by the arms of 
England, would this continent have become the heritage of the 
English-speaking race ? The English colonist was stronger no 
doubt than the colonist of New France ; but was he stronger 
than the colonist of New France backed by the French fleets 
and armies? Might he not, instead of calling this vast and 
peerless realm his own, have merely shared it with three or four 
other races between whom and him there would have been a 
balance of power, rivalry, war and all the evils from which 
afflicted and over-burdened Europe sometimes dreams of escap- 
ing by means of a European Federation? Might he not even 
have entirely succumbed to the concentrated power of the 
French monarchy, wielded by the strong hand and the towering 
ambition of a Richelieu or a Louvois? These are contingencies 
unfulfilled, but unfulfilled perhaps because one memorable 
morning, on the Heights of Abraham, a British army and a 
British hero decided that Anglo-Saxon, not French, should be 
the language ; that Anglo-Saxon, not French, should be the 
polity and the laws of the New World. And when that day 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2j 

was won there burst from the united heart of the whole race in 
both hemispheres a cheer not only of triumph but of mutual 
affection and of Anglo-Saxon patriotism which history still 
hears amidst the cannon of the Fourth of July. 

Was the connection felt by the colonists to be generally 
oppressive and odious, or was the cause of quarrel merely a 
dispute on a particular point with the home government of the 
day? In the first case it might be natural, if not reasonable or 
noble, to cherish the feud ; in the second, it clearly would be 
unnatural. That the connection was not felt to be oppressive 
and odious, but, on the contrary, to the mass of the colonists 
was dear and cherished, is a fact of which, if all the proofs were 
produced, they would more than fill my allotted hour. Franklin 
said, only a few days before Lexington, that he had more than 
once travelled almost from one end of the continent to the 
other, and kept a variety of company eating, drinking, and 
conversing with them freely, and never had heard in any 
conversation from any person, drunk or sober, the least expres- 
sion of a wish for separation or hint that such a thing would be 
advantageous to America. Jay said, that before the second 
petition of Congress, in 1775, he never heard an American 
of any class or of any description express a wish for the 
independence of the colonies. Jefferson said, that before the 
commencement of hostilities he had never heard a whisper of a 
disposition to separate from Great Britain, and after that the 
possibility was contemplated by all as an affliction. The Fairfax 
County " Resolves " denounce as a malevolent falsehood the 
notion breathed by the Minister into the ear of the King that 
the colonies intended to set up for independent States. Wash- 



24 New Papers on Canadian History, 

ington, on assuming the command, declared, in his reply to an 
address from New York, that the object of the war was a 
restoration of the connection on a just and constitutional 
footing. Madison, at a later, day, avowed that it had always 
been his impression that a re-establishment of the colonial 
relations to the parent country, as they were previous to the 
controversy, was the real object of every class of the people till 
the hope of obtaining it had fled. Dickinson was not more 
opposed to arbitrary taxation than he was to separation, and 
the fiery Otis might be called as a witness on the same side.* 
Men there were no doubt, like Samuel Adams, republicans in 
sentiment and devoted to political agitation, who from the 
beginning aspired to independence and meant to bring about a 
rupture ; but they found it necessary to cloak their designs, 
and that necessity was the proof that the general sentiment 
was in favor of the connection. 

There is another proof of the same fact which is familiar 
to every Canadian mind and of which Canada herself is the 
lasting embodiment. It is found in the number and constancy 
of the Loyalists whose annals have been written in a most 
generous spirit by a representative of their enemies, Mr. 
Sabine, and whose illustrious and touching heritage of mis- 
fortune is still the light and pride of not a few Canadian 
hearths in the land in which, by the insensate cruelty of the 
victor, the vanquished were compelled to seek a home. There 
seems reason to believe that fully one-half of the people, 
including a fair share of intelligence, remained at least passively 



* I owe most of these citations to Mr. Sabine. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, 25 

loyal till the blundering arrogance and violence of the royal 
officers estranged multitudes from the royal cause. Twenty-five 
thousand Americans, as Sabine thinks, according to the lowest 
computation, were in arms for the crown. To the end there 
were whole batallions of them serving in the royal army. Sabine 
says that Sir Guy Carleton sent away twelve thousand exiles 
for loyalty's sake from New York before the evacuation. 
Judge Jones, in the history the publication of which we owe to 
the New York Historical Society, gives a much larger number. 
Two thousand took their departure even from the shores of 
Republican Massachusetts. When the Netherlands cast off the 
yoke of Spain, when Italy cast off the yoke of Austria, how 
many Dutchmen or Italians went into exile out of loyalty to 
the oppressor? 

This was not like the revolt of the Netherlands or of Italy, 
a rising against a foreign yoke : it was a civil war, which divided 
England as well as the United States. The American party in 
the British Parliament crippled the operations of the govern- 
ment and upon the first reverses enforced peace. Otherwise 
the loss of Cornwallis's little army would not have been the 
end. The contest would have been carried on by Great Britain 
with the same unyielding spirit which, after a struggle of 
twenty years, overthrew Napoleon. 

"It is the glory of England," says Bancroft, "that the 
rightfulness of the Stamp Act was in England itself the subject 
of dispute. It could have been so nowhere else. The King 
of France taxed the French colonies as a matter of course ; the 
King of Spain collected a revenue by his will in Mexico and 
Peru, in Cuba and Porto Rico, and wherever he ruled. The 



26 New Papers on Canadian History, 

States-General of the Netherlands had no constitutional scruples 
about imposing duties on their outlying possessions. To 
England exclusively belongs the honor that between her and 
her colonies the question of right could arise ; it is still more to 
her glory, as well as to her happiness and freedom, that in that 
contest her success was not possible. Her principles, her 
traditions, her liberty, forbade that arbitrary rule should 
become her characteristic. The shaft aimed at her new colonial 
policy was tipped with a feather from her own wing." The 
reason why the colonies took arms, in short, was not that they 
were worse treated by their mother country than other colonists 
in those days, but that they were better treated. They rebelled 
not because they were enslaved, but because they were so free 
that the slightest curtailment of freedom seemed to them 
slavery. Whig and Tory, as Mr. Sabine says, wanted the same 
thing. Both wanted the liberty which they had enjoyed ; but 
the Whig required securities while the Tory did not. The 
Tory might have said that he had the securities which 
Bancroft himself has enumerated, those afforded by the tradi- 
tions, the Constitution, the political spirit of England herself, 
against any serious or permanent aggression on colonial liberty ; 
and that while he possessed, in municipal self-government, in 
jury trial, in freedom of conscience and of the press, in the 
security of person and of private property, the substance of 
freedom, he would exercise a little patience and try whether 
the repeal of the Tea Duty could not be obtained before he 
plunged the country into civil war. The Stamp Duty had been 
repealed, and though at the same time the abstract right of 
parliament to tax the colonies had been asserted, this had been 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce* 2j 

done with the full concurrence of Burke, and manifestly by 
way of saving the dignity of the Imperial legislature. The Tea 
Duty, trifling in itself, was a mere freak of Townsend's tipsy 
genius, to which the next turn in the war of parliamentary 
parties might have put an end, if colonial violence had not 
given a fatal advantage to the party of violence in the Imperial 
government. Nor does it seem to have been clear from the 
outset, even to the mind of Franklin, that the Imperial Parlia- 
ment, had not the legal power of taxing the colonies, unwise 
and unjust as the exercise of that power might be. It was the 
only Parliament of the Empire, and in regard to taxation as well 
as other matters, in it or nowhere was sovereign power. That it 
had absolute power of legislation on general subjects, including 
trade, was admitted on all hands ; and surely the distinction is 
fine between the power of general legislation and a power of 
passing a law requiring a tax to be paid. That there should 
be no taxation without representation might be a sound 
principle, but in the days of the unreformed Parliament it did 
not prevail in the mother country herself. Ship-money, to 
which the Tea Duty has been compared, was part of a great 
scheme of arbitrary government. It was intended, together 
with other devices of fiscal extortion, to supply the revenue for 
an unparliamentary monarchy, the reactionary policy of which 
in Church and State would, in Hampden's opinion, have 
quenched not only the political freedom but the spiritual life 
of the nation, and made England the counterpart and the 
partner in reaction of France and Spain. Nothing like this 
could be said of the Tea Duty. Bancroft acquits Grenville of 
any design to introduce despotism into the colonies. Such a 



28 New Papers on Canadian History, 

design could hardly have entered the mind of a Whig who was 
doing his best to reduce to a nullity the power of the King. 
What Grenville desired to introduce was contribution to 
Imperial armaments, and he may at least be credited with the 
statesmanship which regarded the colonies, not as a mere group 
of detached settlements, but as an English Empire in the New 
World. The King may have had absolutist notions with regard 
to colonial as well as to home government, but the King was not 
an autocrat. The bishops may have wished to introduce the 
mitre, but the bishops were not masters of Parliament. Chatham 
was more powerful than King or bishops, and had his sun 
broken for an hour through the clouds which had gathered 
round its setting, the policy of the home government towards 
the colonies would at once have been changed. 

The preamble of the Declaration of Independence sets forth 
a series of acts of tyrannical violence committed by George III., 
and it suggests that these were ordinary and characteristic 
acts of the King's government. Had they been ordinary and 
characteristic acts of the King's government they would have 
justified rebellion; but they were nothing of the kind. They 
were measures of repression, ill-advised, precipitate and exces- 
sive, but still measures of repression, not adopted before violent 
resistance on the part of the colonists had commenced. No 
government will suffer its officers to be outraged for obeying its 
commands and their houses to be wrecked, or the property of 
merchants trading under its flag to be thrown into the sea by 
mobs. Jefferson, who penned the Declaration, is the. object of 
veneration to many, but his admirers will hardly pretend that he 
never preferred effect to truth. 



Ari % Science, Literature, and Commerce. 29 

One count in Jefferson's draft of the Declaration he was 
obliged to withdraw. In inflated, not to say fustian phrase, 
and with extravagant unfairness, he charges George III., 
who, though he had a narrow mind, had at least as good a heart 
as Jefferson himself, with having been specially to blame for 
the existence of slavery and of the slave trade. " He has 
waged," it says, " cruel war against human nature, violating its 
most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant 
people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them 
into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable 
death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, 
the opprobium of infidel powers, is the war of the Christian 
King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market 
where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his 
negative for suppressing any legislative attempt to prohibit or 
restrain this execrable commerce." This count, as we know, 
was struck out in deference to the sentiments of patriots, heirs of 
the spirit of Brutus and Cassius, who were perpetuating and were 
resolved, if they could, to go on perpetuating the violation of 
sacred rights and the piratical warfare laid to the charge of George 
III. Not the least curious, surely, of historical documents is this 
manifesto of a civil war levied to vindicate the sacred principle 
that all men are born equal and with inalienable rights to 
liberty and happiness, when we consider that not only was the 
manifesto framed by a slave-owner and signed by slave-owners, 
but the Constitution to which the victory of the principle in 
the war gave birth embodied a fugitive-slave law and a legal- 
ization of the slave trade for twenty years. A stranger 
inducement surely never was held out to men to fight in the 



jo New Papers on Canadian History, 

cause of human freedom than that which was offered by 
Virginia to volunteers, three hundred acres of land and one 
sound and healthy negro. Equity compels us to admit that 
the want of a thorough grasp of the principle of liberty was 
not limited to the mind of George III. A Virginian planter 
fought not for freedom, the love of which had never entered his 
soul : he fought for his own proud immunity from control 
and for the subjection to his will of all around him. His 
haughtiness could hardly brook even association with the 
mercantile and plebeian New Englander in military command. 
Suppose the negro had taken arms in vindication of the prin- 
ciple that all men were born equal and with an inalienable 
right to liberty and happiness, his manifesto would have been 
tainted by no fallacy like that which taints the Declaration of 
Independence. The acts of tyranny and cruelty of which he 
would have complained, the traffic in human flesh, the confis- 
cation of the laborer's earnings, the chain and the lash, the 
systematic degradation of the slave, and all the wrongs of 
slavery, would have been not temporary measures of repression, 
adopted by authority in self-defence ; they would have been 
normal and characteristic of the system. 

On Jefferson's principle of framing indictments against 
governments what an indictment might the Loyalists again have 
framed against the government of Independence ! " We have 
adhered, " they might have said, " to a connection dear to all 
of you but yesterday, to the allegiance in which we were born, 
to a form of government which seems the best to us, and not 
to us only, but to Hamilton and others of your leading men, 
who avow that if Constitutional monarchy were here attainable 



Art, Science, Literature, ana Commerce. ji 

they would introduce it here. For this we have been ostra- 
cized, insulted, outraged, tortured, pillaged, hunted down like 
wild beasts. The amnesty which ought to close all civil wars 
has been denied us ; some of us have been hanged before the 
face of our departing friends ; and now we are stripped of all 
our property and banished from our native land under threat 
of death if we return. Even women, who cannot have borne 
arms in the royal cause, if they have property, are included in 
the proscription and in the sentence of death. The proscription 
list shows, too, that membership of the Church of England is 
practically treated as a crime ! " Surely these complaints would 
have been not less pertinent than those of Jefferson against 
George III. Atrocities had no doubt been committed by the 
Loyalists, but, as Mr. Sabine says, they had been committed on 
both sides. Conscientious error is no crime in politics any 
more than in religion, though it is treated as a crime by 
fanatical revolutionists as well as by inquisitors. 

Supposing even the Loyalists could have foreseen the 
present success of the American Republic, and with the success 
the evils and dangers which disquiet thoughtful Americans, 
would they have been very base or guilty in shrinking from 
revolution ? We are on the Pisgah of Democracy, but not 
yet in the promised land. No one is in the promised land at 
least, except Mr. Carnegie who, in his genial and jocund hymn of 
trfumph, pouring forth his joyous notes like a sky-lark of demo- 
cracy poised over the caucus and the spoils system, ascribes it to 
Democratic institutions that the Mississippi is as large as 
twenty-seven Seines, nine Rhones, or eighty Tibers. The 
Democracy which shall make government the organ of public 



j 2 New Papers on Canadian History, 

reason, and not of popular passion or of the demagogism which 
trades upon it, is yet in the womb of the future. Canada exults 
in having exchanged her royal governors for a government 
which is called responsible, though nothing is less responsible 
than a dominant party. In time, we trust, her exultation will 
be justified ; but there is too much reason to doubt whether the 
rule of an honorable and upright gentleman, trained not in the 
vote-market but in the school of duty, such as General Simcoe 
or Sir Guy Carleton, was not, politically as well as morally, 
better for all but professional politicians, than a reign of faction, 
demagogism and corruption. Forwards not backwards we must 
look, forwards not backwards we must go. Yet history may 
extend its charity to those who, when they were not smarting 
under intolerable or hopeless oppression, shrank from passing 
through a Red Sea of civil bloodshed to a Canaan which was 
beyond their ken. 

Besides the Tea Tax, no doubt, there were the restrictions 
on trade. These were in reality a more serious grievance, and 
probably they had at bottom at least as much to do with the 
Revolution as the Tea Tax. But such were the economical creed 
and the universal practice of the day. Chatham, the idol of the 
colonists, it was who threatened that he would not allow them 
to manufacture a horse-nail. The colonists themselves pro- 
bably, though they groaned under restrictions, shared the 
delusion as to the principle in pursuance of which the restric- 
tions were imposed, and they enjoyed privileges granted on 
the same principle and equally irrational which were supposed 
to be a compensation. The light of economical science had 
then barely dawned. Even now the shadows of the restrictive 



Arty Science ) Literature > and Commerce. 

policy linger in the valleys though the peaks have caught the 
rays of morning. 

There were Americans who desired a Republic. Samuel 
Adams we can hardly doubt was one of them. Judge Jones 
tells us that there was a Republican association at New York 
with classical phrases and aspirations. lh : patriotism of 
those days, the patriotism of Wilkes and Junius, was classical, 
not religious, like that of Hampden and Cromwell. It affected 
the Roman in everything, and was not unconnected with 
Roman Punch. Hut had George III. offered his colonial 
subjects a Republic, his offer would have been rejected by an 
overwhelming majority. Jefferson was a Rousseau ist and a 
French revolutionist in advance. When Jacobinism came on 
the scene his affinity to it appeared. He palliates, to say the 
least, the September massacres and gives his admirers reason 
for rejoicing that he was not a Parisian, since, if he had been, 
he might have canted with Robespierre and murdered with 
Billaud Varennes. " My own affections, " he says, " have been 
deeply wounded by some of the martyrs to this cause, but 
rather than it should have failed I would have seen the earth 
desolated. Were there but an Adam and Eve kept in every 
country and left free it would have been better than it now is." 
So inestimable to this slave-holder appeared the boon of liberty, 
even the liberty of a bedlam turned into a slaughter-house, 
even the liberty which went yelling about the streets with the 
head of a Farmer-General or the fragments of a Court lady's 
body on a pole. Jefferson and his fellow Jacobins had not 
learned what the Puritans of the English Revolution had learned, 
that you cannot, merely by getting rid of kings, make the soul 



34. New Papers on Canadian History, 

worthy to be free. They had not learned that tyranny is the 
offspring, not of monarchy, but of lawless passion in the 
possessors of power, and that it can wear the Jacobin's cap-of- 
liberty as well as the despot's crown. A true brother of 
Rousseau who preached domestic reform and sent his own 
children to the foundling hospital, Jefferson declaimed against 
slavery and kept his slaves. His theories may have been true 
and his sentiments may have been beautiful, but the British 
government could not have been reasonably expected to shape 
its colonial policy so as to satisfy a Rousseauist and a 
Jacobin. Hamilton, as I have said, avowed his belief that con- 
stitutional monarchy was the best of all forms of government. 
He thought the House of Lords an excellent institution. Mason 
said that to refer the choice of a proper character for a chief- 
magistrate to the people would be like referring a trial of 
colors to a blind man. Betwen the sentiments of these men 
and Jefferson's democracy the difference was as wide as 
possible. It would have been difficult for poor George III. to 
satisfy them all. 

It is unquestionably true that the conquest of French 
Canada, by setting the British colonists free from the fear of 
French aggression and rendering the protection of the mother 
country no longer necessary to them, opened the door for their 
revolt. But this, again, to say the least, is no proof that the 
colonies had been oppressed by the mother country. Had she 
left the French power on this continent unassailed in order that 
it might bridle them, her councils might have been reasonably 
branded with Machiavelism and bad faith. 

The ostensible cause of this civil war, of the schism in our 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 35 

race and the violent rending of its realm, must be confessed, 
I submit, to have been inadequate. In their hearts the people 
felt it to be so, and their feeling showed itself, I cannot help 
thinking, in the languid prosecution of the war on the revolu- 
tionary side. States fail to send their contingents or their 
contributions, the armies are always melting away, brave men 
leave the camp on the eve of battle, the Federal cause is served 
without enthusiasm ; only the local resistance, where the people 
were fighting for their homes as well as on their own ground, is 
really strong. Better materials for soldiers never existed, and 
the colonies must have set out with many thousands of men 
trained in colonial or Indian wars. The royal armies were about 
the worst ever sent out from England, and every possible 
blunder, both military and moral, was committed by the royal 
generals, who allowed advantages to slip from their hands which 
WOlfe or Clive would certainly have made fatal while they 
estranged multitudes of waverers who were inclined to return to 
their allegiance. Yet Washington's last words before the 
arrival of succor from France are the utterance of blank 
despair. " Be assured, " he writes to Laurens, the agent in 
France, in April, 1 771 , "that day does not follow night more 
certainly than it brings with it some additional proof of the 
impracticability of carrying on the war without the aid you were 
directed to solicit." 

Nor is it only of want of zeal and vigor that Wash- 
ington and those who shared his responsibility complain ; 
they complain, and complain most bitterly, of self-seeking, 
of knavery, of corruption, of monopoly and regrating, 
heartlessly practised in the direst season of public need, of 



j6 New Papers on Canadian History, 

murderers of the cause who were building their greatness on 
their country's ruin. They complain that stock-jobbing, pecu- 
lation, and an insatiable thirst for riches, have got the better 
of every other consideration in almost every order of men, and 
that there is a general decay both of public and of private 
virtue. In order that contractors may fatten, armies go unfed 
and unclothed, tracing the line of their winter march with 
blood from their shoeless feet. Congress pays its debts with 
paper which it tries, like the French Jacobins, to force into 
circulation by penal enactment, and which, like the French 
assignats, opens an abyss of robbery, breach of contract and 
gambling speculation, an abyss so foul that Tom Paine himself 
afterwards proposed that whoever suggested a return to paper 
money should be punished with death. Washington's indig- 
nant hand lifts a corner of the veil of secrecy which covered 
the proceedings of Congress and the life of its members at 
Philadelphia. There was at least as much public spirit among 
these people as there was among any other people in the 
world. But the cause had not been sufficient to call it forth. 
As soon as the tar barrels of revolutionary excitement had burned 
out, the enthusiasm of the Sons of Liberty failed. The insur- 
gents of the Netherlands, when they struggled onwards through 
wave after wave of blood to independence, had behind them 
the hell of Spanish rule. The American insurgents had behind 
them no hell, but a connection in which they had enjoyed the 
substantial benefits of freedom ; and, after tasting civil war, 
most of them probably wished that things could only be as they 
had been before. 

The relation between a dependent colony and the imperial 



Arty Science Literature^ and Commerce. jy 

country, I repeat, was probably from the beginning false. At 
all events separation was inevitable; it was impossible that the 
Anglo-Saxon realm in both hemispheres should remain forever 
under one government, when the hour of political maturity for 
the colonies had arrived, especially as there was a certain 
difference of political character between the Anglo-Saxon of 
the old country and the Colonist which prevented the same 
policy from being equally suitable to both. What is to 
be deplored, if any foresight or statesmanship could have 
prevented it, is the violent rupture. What was to be 
desired, if human wisdom with the lights which men then 
possessed could have achieved it, was that the two portions of 
our race should have divided its realm in peace. Shelburne 
and Pitt seem to have wished and tried, when the struggle was 
over, to get back into something like an amicable partition of 
the Empire. Among other happy effects of such a settlement 
the fisheries' dispute would have been avoided. But the wound 
was too deep and too fresh. Shelburne and Pitt failed, and 
the two great Anglo-Saxon realms became absolutely foreign 
countries — unhappily, they became for many a day worse than 
foreign countries — to each other. Suppose, however, that not 
only the separation but the rupture was inevitable ; because the 
inevitable came to pass, were the two branches of the race to 
be enemies forever? 

Lei the Fourth of July orator ask himself what were the 
consequences to England, to America, to the French monarch}-, 
which, out of enmity to England, lent its aid to American revo- 
lution, and to mankind. To England the consequences were 
loss of money, which she could pretty well afford, and of 



j8 New Paper's on Canadian History, 

prestige which she soon repaired. The Count de Grasse, as the 
monument at Yorktown records, received the surrender of 
Cornwallis who, hemmed in by three or four times his effective 
number, could get no fair battle and was taken like a wounded 
lion pent up in his lair. But Rodney who did get fair battle 
did not surrender to the Count de Grasse. Spain, too, must 
needs interfere in the Anglo-Saxon quarrel ; but on the blood- 
stained and flame-lighted waters of Gibraltar sank the last 
armament of Spain ; and the day was not far distant when she 
was to invoke the aid of England as a redeemer from French 
conquest. England went into the fight with Napoleon, for the 
independence of Europe, as powerful and indomitable as 
she had gone into the fight with Philip II. or with Louis 
XIV. Her great loss was that of the political enlighten- 
ment which she might have received from an experiment in 
democracy tried by a kindred people at her side, while her 
politics have perhaps been somewhat deflected from the right 
line of development by the repellant influence of galling 
memories and of friction with an unfriendly Republic. The 
colonies having been the scene of war must have lost more 
men and money than England, besides the banishment, when 
the war had closed, of no small number of their citizens. This 
loss they soon repaired, but they also lost their history and that 
connection with the experiences and the grandeurs of the past 
which at once steadies and exalts a nation. What was worse 
than this, the Republic was launched with a revolutionary bias 
which was the last thing that it needed. At the same time 
there was engendered a belief in the right of rebellion and in 
the duty of sympathizing with it on all occasions, which was 






. Irt, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 39 

dotincd to bear bitter fruit at last. The rebellion of the South 
in [86l was manifestly inspired by sentiments nursed and 
consecrated by the Revolution. I remember seeing some words 
of Abraham Lincoln, in his earlier days, on the right of 
rebelling as often as people were dissatisfied with their govern- 
ment, which it seemed to me would have justified Southern 
secession. 

Another consequence was the schism of the race on 
this continent, issuing in the foundation of a separate and 
hostile Canada, which, in the course of a few years, was to 
encounter the Revolutionary colonies in arms and to defend 
itself against them with at least as much energy and as much 
success as they had defended themselves against England. 
British emigration, moreover, was diverted from America to 
Australia ; Anglo-Saxon cities which might have grown up here 
grew up on the other side of the globe ; and the Anglo-Saxon 
element on this continent, in which the tradition and faculty of 
self-government reside, was thus deprived of a re-inforcement the 
loss of which is felt when that element has to grapple with a 
vast influx of foreign emigration untrained in self-government. 

To the French monarchy the consequence was bankruptcy, 
which drew with it utter ruin, and sent the King to the 
scaffold, and Lafayette to an Austrian prison. To humanity 
the consequence was the French Revolution, brought on by 
the bankruptcy of the French monarchy and by the spirit of 
violent insurrection transmitted from America to France. Of 
all the calamities which have ever befallen the human race the 
French Revolution, as it seems to me, is the greatest. If any one 
is startled by that assertion let him review the history of the 



zj.0 New Papers on Canadian History, 

preceding half century, see what progress enlightenment had 
made, and to what an extent liberal and humane principles had 
gained a hold upon the governments of Europe. Let him 
consider how much had been done or was about to be done in 
the way of reform by Turgot, Pombal, Aranda, Tanucci, 
Leopold of Tuscany, Joseph of Austria, Frederic. Catherine, 
and Pitt. The American Revolution brought the peaceful 
march of progress to a violent crisis. Then followed the 
catastrophe in France, the Reign of Terror, the military 
despotism of Napoleon, the Napoleonic wars, desolating half 
the world and lending ten-fold intensity to the barbarous lust 
of bloodshed, the despotic reaction of 1815, another series of 
violent revolutions, another military despotism in France, 
with more wars in its train ; and, on the other hand, Communism, 
Intransigentism, and all the fell brood of revolutionary chi- 
meras to which Jacobinism gave birth, and which, imported 
into this continent by political exiles, are beginning to breed 
serious trouble even here. Separation, once more, was inevi- 
table; but if it could only have been peaceful what a page of 
calamity, crime, and horror, would have been torn from the 
book of fate ! 

Then came the disastrous and almost insane war of 18 12, 
an after-clap of the war of the Revolution. So far as that war 
was on the American side a war for the freedom of the seas it 
was righteous. Nobody can defend the Orders in Council, or 
the conduct of the British government, and the only excuse is 
that Great Britain was then in the agony of a desperate strug- 
gle, not for her own independence only, but for the indepen- 
dence of all nations. So far as it was a war of anti-British 



Arty Science, Literature^ and Commerce. ji 

feeling and of sympathy with Jacobinism, as to a great extent 
it was, the protest of Webster and New England, it appears <» 
me, may be sustained. That strife over and its bitterness 
somewhat allayed, there came disputes respecting the bounda- 
ries of Canada and at the same time bickerings about the 
slave trade, which England was laboring with perfect sincerity 
to put down. Later still came the quarrel bred by the 
sympathy of a party in England with Southern secession. I 
saw something of that controversy in my own country, stand- 
ing by the side of John Bright against the dismemberment of 
the great Anglo-Saxon community of the West, as I now stand 
by the side of John Bright against the dismemberment of the 
great Anglo-Saxon community of the East. The aristocracy of 
England as a class was naturally on the side of the Plan r 
aristocracy of the South, as the Planter aristocracy of the South 
would, in a like case, have been on the side of the aristocracy 
of England. The mass of the nation was on the side of freedom, 
and its attitude effectually prevented not only the success but 
the initiation of any movement in Parliament for the support or 
recognition of the South. If some who were not aristocrats or 
Tories failed to understand the issue between the North and the 
South, and were thus misguided in the bestowal of their sym- 
pathies, let it in equity be remembered that Congress, when the 
gulf of disunion yawned before it, had shown itself ready not 
only to compromise with slavery, but to give slavery further 
securities, if, by so doing, it could preserve the Union. Not a few- 
friends of the Republic in England stifled their sympathy because 
they deemed the contest hopeless and thou ,ht that to encourage 
perseverance in it was to lure the Republic to her ruin. When 



/j.2 New Papers on Canadian History, 

Mr. Gladstone proclaimed that the cause of disunion had 
triumphed and that Jeff. Davis had made the South a nation, 
some there were who echoed his words with delight ; not a few 
there were who echoed them in despair. I first visited 
America during the civil war, when the Alabama controversy 
was raging in its full virulence. Even then I was able to write 
to my friends in England that, angry as the Americans were, 
and bitter as were their utterances against us, a feeling towards 
the old country, which was not bitterness, still had its place in 
their hearts ; and it seems not chimerical to hope that the feel- 
ing which was thus shown to be the most deeply seated will in 
the end entirely prevail. In England, already, a display of the 
American flag excites none but kindly feelings, and the time 
must surely come when a display of the flag which American 
and British hands together planted on the captured ramparts of 
Louisburg will excite none but kindly feelings here. 

The political feud between the two branches of the race 
would now I suppose be nearly at an end, if it were not for the 
Irish, or rather for the Irish vote. I am not going into the 
question of Home Rule, or as it would more properly be 
called, the question of Celtic secession. But I wish to impress 
upon my hearers one fact, which, unless it can be denied or its 
plain significance can be rebutted, is decisive, as it seems to me, 
of the Irish question. The north of Ireland is not more 
favored by nature than other parts ; its laws, its institutions, 
its connection with Great Britain under the Union, are pre- 
cisely the same as those of the other provinces ; the only dif- 
ference is that, having been settled by the Scotch, it is mainly 
Anglo-Saxon and Protestant, while the rest of the Island is 



Art, Science Literature ) and Commerce. jj 

Celtic and Catholic; and the north is prosperous, contented, 
law-abiding and loyal to the Union. This fact, I say, appears 
to me decisive, nor have I ever seen an attempt on the part of 
secessionists to deal with it or rebut the inference. To extend 
Anglo-Saxon constitutionalism and legality to the clannish and 
law less Celt, who after the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England 
Still had his abode in Cornwall, Wales, the Highlands of Scot- 
land, and Ireland has been a hard and tedious task. Cornwall 
was Anglo-Saxonized early, though traces of the Celtic temper 
in politics still remain. Wales was Anglo-Saxonized later by 
Edward the First, and the Kings his successors, who perfected 
his work. The Highlands of Scotland were not Anglo-Saxon- 
ized till 1745, when the last rising of the Clans for the Pre- 
tender was put down, and law, order, settled industry, and the 
Presbyterian Church penetrated the Highland glens with the 
standards of the United Kingdom. The struggle to make the 
Celtic clans of Ireland an integral and harmonious part of the 
Anglo-Saxon realm, carried on from age to age amidst un- 
toward and baffling influences of all kinds, especially those of 
the religious wars of the Reformation, form one of the most 
disastrous and the saddest episodes of history ; though it must 
be remembered that struggles not unlike this have been going 
on in other parts of Europe where national unificaiion was in 
progress, without receiving so much critical attention or making 
so much noise in the world. One great man was for a moment 
on the point of accomplishing the work and stanching forever 
the source of tears and blood. That Cromwell intended t<> ex- 
tirpate the Irish people is a preposterous calumny. To no 
man was extirpation less congenial ; but he did intend to make 



44 New Papers on Canadian History, 

an end of Irishry, with its clannishness, lawlessness, supersti- 
tion, and thriftlessness, and to introduce the order, legality, 
and settled industry of the Anglo-Saxon in its place. To use 
his own expression he meant to make Ireland another England, 
as prosperous, peaceful, and contented. It is impossible that 
British statesmen can allow a separate realm of Celtic lawless- 
ness to be set up in the midst of the Anglo-Saxon realm of 
law ; if they did, the consequence would be civil war, murder- 
ous as before, between the two races and religions in Ireland, 
then reconquest and a renewal of the whole cycle of disasters. 
Nor can any government suffer the lives, property, and indus- 
try of its law-abiding citizens to be at the mercy of a murderous 
conspiracy, or permit terrorism to usurp the place of the law. 
Butchering men before the faces of their wives and families, 
beating out a boy's brains in his mother's presence, setting fire 
to houses in which men are sleeping, shooting or pitch-capping 
women, boycotting a woman in travail from medical aid, mob- 
bing the widow as she returns from viewing the body of her mur- 
dered husband, driving from their calling all who will not obey 
the command of the village tyrant, mutilating dumb animals 
and cutting off the udders of cows, blowing up with dynamite 
public edifices in which a crowd of innocent sightseers of all 
ages and both sexes are gathered —these are not things which 
civilization reckons as liberties. They are not things by which 
any practical reform can be effected, by which any good cause 
can be advanced. America has seen something of Celtic law- 
lessness as well as Great Britain, and more Irish probably were 
put to death at the time of the draft riots in this city than 
have suffered under all those special acts for the prevention of 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 45 

crime in Ireland, miscalled coercion acts, the very number and 
frequent renewal of which only show that the British govern- 
ment is always trying to return to the ordinary course of lav. . 
Americans do not allow conspiracy to usurp the place of Legal 
authority, or one man to deprive another of his livelihood by 
boycotting at his will ; nor do I suppose that holders of real 
estate in New York regard with philanthropic complacency 
the proposal to repudiate rents. When the other European 
governments find it necessary to put forth their force in order 
to oppose disturbance, when Austria proclaims a state of 
siege, or Germany resorts to strong measures in Posen and 
Alsace-Lorraine, no cry of indignation is heard ; when Italy 
sends her troops to restore order and crush an agrarian league 
which is dominating by assassination and outrage like that of 
Ireland, no American legislatures pass resolutions denouncing 
the Italian government and expressing sympathy with the 
Camorra. It seems to be believed that Ireland is governed as 
a dependency by a British Viceroy with despotic power, who 
oppresses the people at his pleasure or at the pleasure of 
tyrannical England, I doubt whether many Americans are dis- 
tinctly conscious of the fact that Ireland like Scotland has her 
full representation in the United Parliament, and if her mem- 
bers would act like those from Scotland, might obtain any 
practical reform which she desired. The Lord-Lieutenant has 
been compared to an Austrian satrapy in Italy. An Austrian 
satrapy, with a full representation of the people in Parlia- 
ment, a responsible executive, trial by jury, habeas corpus, and 
a free press ! It happens that thirty years ago the British 
House of Commons voted by an overwhelming majority the 



46 New Papers on Canadian History, 

abolition of the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, but the bill was 
dropped, as Lord St. Germain, the Lord-Lieutenant of that 
day formally announced, in deference to the expressed wishes 
of the Irish people. 

I do not blame Americans for misjudging us ; the au- 
thority by which they are misled is apparently the highest. 
But they too know what faction is, and that in its evil parox- 
ysms it is capable not only of betraying but of traducing the 
country. Americans will presently see that the dynamite of 
Herr Most and that of Rossa is the same ; that the seeds of 
disorder and contempt for law scattered in Ireland will spring 
up here ; that war between property and plundering anarchy 
impends in this as well as in other countries, and that you can- 
not strengthen the hands of anarchy in one country without 
strengthening them in all. Openly, and under its own banner, 
anarchism is making formidable attempts to grasp the govern- 
ment of American cities. It is not only your neighbor's house 
that is on fire and the flames of which you are fanning, it is 
your own. Nor ought Americans to forget that they have re- 
cently themselves set us an illustrious example. By them 
Englishmen have been taught resolutely to maintain the integ- 
rity of the nation, even though it be at the cost of the most 
tremendous of civil wars. 

But then there is the social friction. At the time of 
the Revolution one ultra-classical patriot proposed that the 
language of the new Republic should be Latin, forgetting that 
Latin was the language of Nero and his slaves as well as of the 
Gracchi. I sometimes almost wish that his suggestion had 
been adopted, so that the two branches of our race might not 



./;-/, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ./~ 

have had a common tongue to convey their carpings, scoffings, 
and gibings to each other. English travellers come scurrying 

over the I'nited States with notions gathered from Martin 
Chuzzlewit, seeing only the cities, where all that is least 
American and least worthy is apt to be gathered, not the farms 
and villages, in which largely reside the pith, force, and virtue 
of the nation ; ignorant of the modes of living and travelling, 
running their heads against social custom, carrying about their 
own bath-tubs, and dressing as though they were among 
hunter tribes. Then they go home and write magazine articles 
about American society and life. Americans go to England 
full of Republican prejudice and sensitiveness, with minds made- 
up to seeing nothing but tyranny or servility on all sides, — 
ignorant, they also, of the ways of the society in which they 
find themselves, construing every oversight and every word 
that they do not understand as a studied insult not only to 
themselves but to their Republic. I was reading the other day 
a book on British Aristocracy by a distinguished American, 
the lion's provider to one still more distinguished. He wa 
far free from prejudice as to admit that English judges did not 
often take bribes. But, in English society, he found a repulsive 
mass of aristocratic insolence on one side and of abject flunky- 
ism on the other. The position of the men of intellect, the 
Tennysons, Brownings, Thackerays, A'lacaulays, Darwins, Ilux- 
leys, and Tyndalls he found to be that of the Russian serf, who 
holds the heads of his master's horses while his master flogs 
him. He represents the leaders of English society as going 
upon their knees for admission to his parties, which ought to 
have mollified him, but did not. It seems that when he was 



nd there was only one high-minded gentleman there, 
and even that one was in the hah ig the hospitality 

I he enjoyed [f people - much as 

th< j saj the) do, would I ft so much 

about it S ar from the British the most 

,. slaves of aristocracy, thej an the an in Europe 

which would ne\ . wcistenci — 

always insist the equality ligh-born and Ion 

e the law. \ stocrac] has survived in England for the 

that there alone its privih curtailed 

and its -- was jealously repressed. In England, as in 

other countries, aristocracy as a pol tkal power is about to pass 

away, and there will be other and more rational guarantees 

and stability for the future. But I that 

the British a' se ch and idle classes 

I do not believe it is worse than the idle s IS millionaires in 
V-u York, It has st some sen-.- v. dut 

•m. All its - is nmitted under an electric light and 

telegraphed to a prurient world, which - cravinj 

s . ... s - ■ : ■ h nkj > heart As to 

the pomps and vanities of 1 me to 

much the saa th sides tic Assured rank. 

■ w ealth. Si 
all our studies of the ihilosopli 

the traditions 
... s . i it cath< . 

in ers, legem As.— 

a land, ol which th« I ~ less 



Art, Science, Literature, and < ommerce, eg 

fourt( i ii i 'Hi hi ies of culture, I hi tructun ol tj i annot 

be the ame thai ii is in thi New World. W( ought to hav< 
philosophy enough to admit thai a itructun ol 
different from ours ma) lu\ . grai i , perhap i i \ en \ irl ui 
its own. rhe old cannot at a bound becomi as thi new, noi 
w mi Id it be better i"i us ii it could. Americanize the planet, 
.Hid you will retard noi quicken the march ol civilization, 
w h u l\ to propel it . i uin dh ei lit) and emulal ion. I 
ma) I"- politically behind America, and have ii isons to learn 
from America which ihe will learn thi mon readil) the mon 
kindly the) are imparted. Bui she is noi .1 land ol tyranl and 
slaves. Her m >narchy does noi cosl the peopli more than 
idenl ial ele< t i< m . I rood M r. Cai \ ho de< m ii t he 

special boon ol Democrac) thai he is perfectly the equal of 
ever) other man, is no more politically the e [ual ol .1 Boss than 
I .mi ni ,1 I >uke. < me liberty England , unli nr 

patriotism misleads me, in .1 degree peculiar to herself, and 
perhaps it 1 ol all liberties 1 he mo ii \ ital and the mo ii 
precious During this Irish contro . terribly momentous 
and exa | to us, Iri ih Nati malists and Ameri< an 

sympathi ers with Irisli nationalism, have been allowed freely 
pres 1 t heir opinion 1 e\ en in tanj 'uage far from 1 ourteou 
to En ;lishmen through .ill the magazine and 01 an of the 
English press. The English press is under thi irship 

neither oi kings, nor of the 1 1 1> »l ». Perhaps the cen 01 ihip ol 
t he mob 1 1 noi le - 1 inimical to 1 he fr< ion oi t rul h, I< 

harrowing or less degrading than that <>f kings. 

The literary men ol Amerii a, whose influeni e on lentimenl 
musl be great, an apl to be somewhat anglophobic. The) 



5<9 New Papers on Canadian Histo?y, 

have reason to feel galled by the unfair competition to which 
the absence of international copyright subjects them. I was 
reading, not long ago, an American book of travel in Italy, very 
pleasant, except that on every other page there was an angry 
thrust at England, where the writer told us he would be very 
sorry to live, though it did not appear that the presumptuous 
Britons were pressing that hateful domicile upon him. Then, 
after harping on English grossness, brutality, and barbarism, he 
goes to worship at the shrines of Byron, Keats, and Shelley ; as 
though the poetry of Byron, Keats, and Shelley were anything 
but the flower of that plant, the root and stem of which are so 
coarse and vile. A Confederate flag is descried, floating 
probably over the home of some exile, on the Lake of Como. 
The writer is transported with patriotic wrath at the sight. 
Two Englishmen on board the steamer, as he tells us, grin ; and 
he takes it for granted that their grinning is an expression of 
their British malignity ; yet, surely, it may have been only a 
smile at his emotion, at which the reader, though innocent of 
British malignity, cannot possibly help smiling. " Heaven 
knows," a character is made to say in an American novel now in 
vogue, " I do not love the English. I was a youngster in our 
great war, but the iron entered into my soul when I understood 
their course towards us and when a gallant young sailor from 
our town, serving on the Kcarsage in her fight with the Alabama 
(that British vessel under Confederate colors) was wounded 
by a shot cast in a British arsenal, and fired from a British 
cannon by a British seaman from the Royal Naval Reserve 
transferred from the training-ship Excellent." The writer shows 
that by the very way in which he strives to color the facts that 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 5/ 

he knows the charge here levelled against the British govern- 
ment and nation to be unjust ; and art ill fulfills her miss 
when she propagates false history for the purpose of keeping 
up ill-will between nations. 

The soldiers, by whom it might be supposed that the 
traditions of hostility would be specially preserved and cherished, 
I have usually found not bitter; but soldiers seldom are. 

When Mr. Ingalls, or Mr. Fry, pours out his vocabulary 
upon England and upon us who rejoice in the name of English- 
men, I want to ask them, whether Ingalls and Fry are not 
English names. These gentlemen must have very bad blood 
in their own veins. Their education too must have been poor, 
if it is on English literature that their minds have been fed. 
The character of races, though perhaps not indelible, is lasting. 
It passes almost unchanged through zone after zone of 
history. The Frenchman is still the Gaul ; the Spaniard is 
still the Iberian. Abraham still lives in the Arab tent. Yet 
we are asked by American anglophobists to believe that of two 
branches of the same race, which have been parted only for a 
single century, and have all that time been under the influence 
of the same literature and similar institutions, one is a mass 
of brutality and infamy, while the other is unapproachable 
perfection. 

There has no doubt been a certain division, both of char- 
acter and of achievement, between the Anglo-Saxon of the old 
country and the Anglo-Saxon of the New World. The Anglo- 
Saxon of the New World has organized Democracy, with t he- 
problems of which, after the Revolution, he was distinctly 
brought face to face; whereas the Anglo-Saxon of the old 



52 New Papers on Canadian History, 

country, having glided into Democracy unawares, while he 
fancied himself still under a monarchy because he retained 
monarchical forms, is now turning to his brother of the New 
World for lessons in Democratic organization. With the 
Anglo-Saxon of the old country has necessarily hitherto 
remained the leadership of literature and science, which the 
race has known how to combine in full measure with political 
greatness. With the Anglo-Saxon of die old country have 
also remained the spirit of Elizabethan adventure and the 
faculty of conquering and of organizing conquest. Surely, in the 
British Empire in India, no Anglo-Saxon can fail to see at all 
events a splendid proof of the valor, the energy, the fortitude, 
and the governing-power of his race. Remember how small is 
the number of the Anglo-Saxons who rule those two hundred 
and fifty millions. Remember that since the establishment of 
British rule there has never been anything worthy the name of 
a political revolt, that at the time of the great mutiny all the 
native princes remained faithful, that when Russia threatened 
war the other day one of them came zealously forward with 
offers of contributing to the defence of the Empire. Remember 
that the Sikhs, with whom yesterday England was fighting 
desperately for ascendancy, are now her best soldiers, while 
their land is her most flourishing and loyal province. Yet we 
are told that the Anglo-Saxon can never get on with other 
races! It is not on force alone that the British Empire in 
India is founded ; the force is totally inadequate to produce 
the moral and political effects. The certainty that strict faith 
will always be kept by the government is the talisman which 
makes Sepoy and Rajah alike loyal and true. In an American 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 5J 

i -inc. the other day, appeared a rabid invective against 
British rule by one of those cultivated Hindoos, Baboos as they 

arc called, who owe their very existence to the peace of the 
Empire, and if its protection were withdrawn would be crushed 
like egg-shells amidst the wild collision of hostile races and 
creeds which would ensue. The best answer to the Baboo's 
accusations is the freedom of invective which he enjoys, and 
which is equally enjoyed by the native press of India. What 
other conqueror could ever afford to allow perfect liberty of 
complaint, and not only of complaint but of denunciation to 
the conquered? We, gentlemen of the Canadian Club of New 
York, heirs not of the feuds of our race, but of its glorious 
history, its high traditions, its famous names, can look with 
equal pride on all that it has done, whether in the Old World 
or in the New, from New York to Delhi, from Winnipeg or 
Toronto to Sidney or Melbourne, and rejoice in the thought 
that though the roll of England's drum may no longer go with 
morning around the world, and though the cun may set on 
England's military empire, morning in its course round the 
world will forever be greeted in the Anglo-Saxon tongue and 
the sun will newer set on Anglo-Saxon greatness. 

And if in the breast of any American envy is awakened by 
the imperial grandeur of his kinsmen in the ( )ld World, 
perhaps there is a thought which ma} - alia} - his pain. Power 
in England is passing out of the hands of the imperial classes. 
and those which gave birth to the heroic adventurers, into those 
of classes which, whatever ma}- be their other qualities, arc 
neither imperial nor heroic. It seems to be the -rami aim of 
statesmen, by protective tariffs and ecocomical legislation of 



5^ New Papers on Canadian History, 

all kinds, to call into existence factory-life on as large a scale 
as possible, as though this were one thing needed to make 
communities prosperous and happy. Wealth, no doubt, the 
factory-hand produces, and possibly he may prove hereafter to 
be good material for the community and the Parliament of 
Man, but he is about the worst of all material for the nation. 
He is apt to be a citizen of the labor market and to have those 
socialistic or half-socialistic tendencies with which patriotism 
cannot dwell. England has been inordinately enriched by the 
vast development of her manufactures. But for her force, 
perhaps even for her happiness, it would be better if Yorkshire 
streams still ran unpolluted to the sea and beside them dwelt 
English hearts. It seems at all events scarcely possible that 
such an electorate should continue to hold and administer the 
Indian Empire. 

Some day we may be sure the schism in the Anglo-Saxon 
race will come to a end. Intercourse and intermarriage, which 
are every day increasing ; the kindly words and acts of the 
wiser and better men on both sides ; the influence of a common 
literature and the exchange of international courtesies and 
good offices — these, with all-healing time, will at last do 
their work. The growing sense of a common danger will 
cause Americans, if they hold property and love order, to give 
up gratifying their hatred of England by fomenting disorder 
in Ireland. The feud will cease to be cherished, the fetish 01 
hatred will cease to be worshipped, even by the meanest 
members of either branch of the race. No peddler of inter- 
national rancor will then be any longer able to circulate his 
villain sheets and rake up his shekels by trading on the 



.7/7, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 55 

lingering enmity of the Anglo-Saxon of the New World to his 
brother beyond the sea. But between the two branches of the 
race which the Atlantic divides, the only bond that can be 
renewed is that of the heart ; though I have sometimes 
indulged, a thought that there might at some future day be an 
Anglo-Saxon franchise, enabling a member of any English- 
speaking community to take up his citizenship in any other 
English-speaking community without naturalization, and that, 
in this manner, the only manner possible, might be fulfilled tin 
desire of those who dream of Imperial Federation. But the 
relations of the English-speaking communities of Canada to 
the English-speaking communities of the rest of this continent 
are manifestly destined by nature to be more intimate. I do 
not speak of political relations, nor do I wish to raise the veil 
of the future on that subject ; but the social and commercial 
relations of Canada with the United States must be those of 
two kindred communities dwelling not only side by side, but 
on territories interlaced and vitally connected in regard to all 
that concerns commerce and industry with each other, while 
united these territories form a continent by themselves. In 
spite of political separation, social and commercial fusion is in 
fact rapidly going on. There are now large colonies of Cana- 
dians south of the line, and Anglo-Saxons from Canada occupy, 
so far as I can learn, not the lowest grade, either in point of 
gy or of probity, in the hierarchy of American industry and 
trade. One name at all events they have in the front rank <>t 
American finance. Of those American fishermen, between 
whom and the fishermen of Canada this dispute has arisen, not 
a few, it seems, are Canadians. Not a little of Canadian 



56 New Papers on Canadian History, 

commerce on the other hand is in American hands. The 
railway system of the two countries is one ; and they are far 
advanced towards a union of currency. Of the old estran- 
gement, which the Trent affair for a moment revived, almost 
the last traces have now disappeared and social reconciliation is 
complete. It is time then that the Anglo-Saxons on this 
continent should set aside the consequences of the schism and 
revert to the footing of common inheritance, instituting free- 
trade among themselves, allowing the life-blood of commerce 
to circulate freely through the whole body of their continent, 
enjoying in common all the advantages which the continent 
affords, its fisheries, its water-ways, its coasting-trade, and 
merging forever all possibility of dispute about them in a 
complete and permanent participation. The Fisheries dispute 
will have been a harbinger of amity in disguise if it leads us at 
last to make a strenuous effort to bring about a change so 
fraught with increase of wealth and other benefits to both 
countries as Commercial Union. The hour is in every way 
propitious if only American politicians will abstain from 
insulting or irritating England, whose consent is necessary, by 
reckless efforts to capture the Irish vote. Let us not allow 
the hour to pass away in fruitless discussion, but try to 
translate our wishes into actions. Nor need any Canadian fear 
that the political separation to which perhaps he clings will be 
forfeited by accepting Commercial Union. A poor and weak 
nationality that would be which depended upon a customs 
line. Introduce free-trade at once throughout the world and 
the nationalities will remain as before. Abolish every custom- 
house on the Pyrenees, France and Spain will still be nations 



. trt, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 



57 



as distinct from each other as ever. It political union 
takes place b.-tu ecu the United States and ( lanada, it will not be 

because the people of the United States are disposed to aggres 
sion upon Canadian independence, of which there is no 
thought in an} - American breast, nor because the impediments 
to commercial intercourse and of the free interchange of 
commercial services will have been removed, but because 
in blood and character, language, religion, institutions, law 
and interests, the two portions of the Anglo-Saxon race on 
this continent are one people. 



ilflB 









^<^e -£c4 



_^*-% 




THE GREAT CANADIAN NORTH-WEST. 



/ 



Rev. JOHN C. ECCLESTON, />. />. 



A'c\i</ before the Canadian Club 
of New York. 



NWARD has been the march of 
Canada in the path of progress 
through the development of its rail- 
way system and the enlargement of 
its canals. Therefore, and for two 
special reasons, 1 gladly accept the 
honor conferred upon me by your 
kind invitation to address you this 
evening upon "the resources of the 

Dominion of Canada — as developed by the recently completed 

Canadian Pacific Railroad." 

First, — Because it affords me a fitting opportunity to 

acknowledge my personal indebtedness to Sir Geoi .■■ Stephen, 




60 New Papers on Canadian History, 

and Mr. W. C. Van Home for their great kindness in extend- 
ing to me the courtesies of their road, whereby I had the 
experience of a most thoroughly enjoyable summer vacation. 

Second, — Because I am glad to have a chance to tell my 
countrymen of the " States " (for I am sure they are for the 
most part as ignorant as I was), some things they ought to know, 
something about this great Dominion of the North, just knit 
together by this Iron Nexus into one grand Confederation, 
reaching from ocean to ocean, and advancing with giant strides 
to imperial power. 

We have been so long accustomed to see Canada figure 
on our maps as a narrow strip, with scattered villages and 
towns along the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, with 
innumerable smaller lakes and rivers, that it is difficult for us 
to realize that a rival nation, with a territory vastly larger 
than the whole American Union (not counting Alaska) and 
hardly eighteen years old, has arisen upon our borders, and 
like a young giant, set about making a glorious future for 
itself ; building up great manufactories, levelling the mountains, 
filling up the valleys, bridging the rivers of the continent, 
digging canals, constructing thousands of miles of railroad, 
whereby to consolidate its empire, and make accessible its 
boundless natural resources of timber, mines and agricultural 
lands. 

We are in the habit of laughing at the mistakes of English 
writers and tourists, concerning the geography of the United 
States, but this ignorance about America is not half so great as 
the ignorance of most of our people respecting a country which 
is at our very doors. 



Art, Science. Literature, and Commerce. 61 

The battle on the Heights of Abraham (Sept. 13, 1759) 
determined the ascendancy of the Anglo-Saxon race and 
tongue in America. When the news of Montcalm's defeat and 
death reached Paris, Voltaire, with his characteristic flippancy, 
said : " Well, we are well rid of 15,000 leagues of snow and ice." 

Madame de Pompadour rejoiced, and said : "Now that 
Montcalm is dead, the King will have some peace"! Hut 
the people of France, who had gloried in the heroic deeds of 
Cartier, Champlain and De Salle, and the alou labors of the 
martyred missionary fathers in the New World, mourned over 
the loss with a sore lamentation. 

The Marquis de Choiseul, upon whom devolved the 
humiliating duty of signing the treaty of peace, was discon- 
solate. Turning to the British plenipotentiary, he said : " We 
shall be avenged: so long as France held Canada, your Ameri- 
can colonies, needing your protection against a foreign power 
on their border, had to remain submissive, but now that you 
have driven us away, they will rebel against your authority, 
and assert their independence." We need not stop to relate 
how the Frenchman's prophecy was verified, how in process of 
time, the thirteen American colonies rebelled against King 
George, not that they loved the mother country (old England) 
/ess, but because they loved the liberties of Englishmen more, 
how during the terrible years of the revolution, the tide of a 
fratricidal war raged along the shores of the St. Lawrence ami 
the great lakes. 

Hut, all this is of the past. We rejoice that our lot has 
fallen on better days, that the strife of angry contention is 
forever ended — the sword supplanted by arbitration, and that 



62 New Papers on Canadian History, 

henceforth, the only contest there can ever be between these 
two branches of the great Anglo-Saxon race, will be which of 
the two can best improve the magnificent inheritance God has 
divided between them in the western world. 

MONTREAL. 

The rattling of the train through the Victoria Bridge (one 
mile and three-quarters long), the master-piece of Brunell and 
Stephenson, announced our arrival at the city of The Royal 
Mount. By ten o'clock P. M., I was safely and most comfort- 
ably housed at the Windsor Hotel. I made the most of the 
three days I had for viewing the city, and could profitably have 
prolonged the time to a week, so numerous are its interesting 
sights and so beautiful its situation, that it is considered by 
many persons one of the finest cities on this continent. 

Three miles of river frontage give ample room for shipping 
of every class. Back of it are, first long lines of warehouses and 
stores, then great massive public buildings and churches, and, 
further on, palatial mansions stretching westward to the foot of 
the mountain. Indications of a quiet, inobtrusive and substan- 
tial wealth are apparent on every side. It is asserted that 
there is no wealthier city area in the world than that which lies 
between the parallelogram made by Beaver Hall Hill and the 
foot of Mount Royal on the one hand, and Dorchester and 
Sherbrooke streets on the other. The view from the moun- 
tain, up and down the river, and over the Adirondack Mountains 
of the State of New York, and the Green Mountains of 
Vermont, is unsurpassingly grand and unique. The city claims 
150,000 inhabitants. Here lived in former days the great 



Art, Science y Literature, and Commerce. 63 

feudal lords of the fur-trade : the McTavishes, the Mc< rillimans, 
the McKenzies and the Frobishers, and other magnate - oi tin- 
Hudson Bay and the North-west companies, at the time of 
their greatest prosperity. It was at this spot that, from time- 
to time, the Ottawas, Hurons, Algonquins and other tribes, 
who hunted the countries bordering on the great lakes, would 
come down the Ottawa river in canoes, laden with rich peltries, 
and barter them off for blankets, kettles, guns, knives, and all 
kinds of " fire-water," upon all which, the fur-lords were sure to 
make a profit of two or three hundred per cent. To-day, 
the Indian and the beaver, frightened alike by the scream of the 
iron horse, have retired to the inaccessible defiles of the Rocky 
Mountains, ami the fur-lords have also vanished, but the 
beautiful city they had adorned and enriched ^till remains to 
challenge our admiration. 

I ITTAWA. 

Before commencing- our journey across the continent, 
journey which properly begins at Montreal, we will stop a few 
hours at the new and beautiful city of Ottawa, the political — as 
Montreal is the commercial — metropolis of the Dominion. 
Tossed backward and forward between Toronto, Kingston, 
Quebec and Montreal, the legislators of Canada have here- 
found an abiding resting place. Ottawa is beautifully situated 
upon high bluffs, between the spray ami roars of two headlong 
rivers, the ( )ttawa and the Gatineau. The Parliament buildings, 
which cover an area of four acres and which wen erected at a 

cost of $5,003,000, are in gothic style of the XI 1th century, 
unblemished by any surplus ornamentation. No edifio on 



64 New Papers on Canadian History, 

this continent are more imposing and pleasing at the same time 
than these buildings. Built of a cream-colored sand-stone, the 
dressings are of Ohio free-stone, while the arches, over-windows 
and doors are of the warm Potsdam red-stone, a combination 
of colors most gratifying to the eye. Ottawa is the centre of 
the lumber interests. Last year the revenue of the Dominion 
from the rental and leases of its forest limits was $1,300,000. 
The number of feet of lumber cut was 1,600,000,000, repre- 
senting a value of $58,000,000. 

Among the far-seeing, anxiety is felt about the prodig- 
ious annual destruction of the forests, and they do not hesitate 
to declare that in twenty-five years at the present rate the 
lumber interest of the Dominion will be a thing of the past. 
One of the main causes of the forest waste, and one for the most 
part preventable, are forest fires kindled by hunters and others, 
who take no pains to extinguish their camp-fires or cover the 
embers with earth. 

Pioneer settlers clear the land by setting the under- 
brush on fire ; should a strong wind arise, the flames sweep 
onwards with a roar that is apalling. Great pine and cypress 
trees, of two and three hundred years of age, are shrivelled up 
like straws, the flames mounting almost in an instant from the 
roots to the topmost branches. The very surface of the soil is 
burnt up and the fiery hurricane, for thousands of acres, leaves 
nothing in its passage but hideous charred trunks, naked stones 
and mossless rocks. It is estimated that in 1881, the autumn 
fires in the Province of Ontario consumed $15,000,000 worth 
of timber. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, 65 

1 111 ORIGIN AND INCEPTION 01 I Hi: I \\ \l»l w PACIFK 

RAILWAY. 

The daily express leaves Montreal for Vancouver at 8 P. \i.. 

or 20 o'clock, as they call it ; we take the sleeper .it ( Ittawa, 
about midnight ; but before doing so, there are several Interest- 
ing prelimin iries deserving our attention. 

First, a word about the history of the railroad. As far back 
as [851, a Company was projected at Toronto by Mr. Allen 
McDonald and the Hon. Henry Sherwood, by the name of the 
Lake Superior and Pacific Railroad. This, as well as similar 
schemes by the Hon. A. W. Morin and Mr. John Rose, came to 
naught, chiefly on account of the adverse report of Capt. Palliser 
who had been sent, in 1857. by the Imperial Government to 
survey and report upon the several proposed routes. After a 
four years' exploration, he pronounced the region of the 
Laurentides, around Lake Superior and the Lake of the 
Woods, impracticable for a railroad (speaking as an engineer), 
and the Rockies as an obstacle not to be overcome. He 
declared the central part of British America forever shut oft 
by nature from both the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards. Hut 
Canada, having meanwhile consolidated her far distant and 
outlying provinces into a Federal Dominion, the question of 
binding these several Provinces together into some intimate and 
practicable union, became an urgent political as well as social 
and commercial necessity. Americanizing influences were in 
dangerous proximity at Winnipeg and Victoria. St. Paul and 
Portland and San Francisco were only a few hours distant: 
Ottawa was many weary days' journey remote. 



66 New Papers on Canadian History, 

It is unnecessary to dwell upon the interminable and 
fierce battles, the squabbles and scandals of the two rival parlia- 
mentary parties — the Liberal and Conservative ; or among the 
greedy speculators who opened wide their mouths to swallow 
the big plum of 25,000,000 acres of the best wheat-land in the 
world, besides endless bonuses, and who gnashed and ground 
their teeth when they failed to receive them. When the Conser- 
vatives returned to power in 1878, the work of construction, 
meanwhile undertaken by the Government, was pushed forward 
with much energy, and the contract for the British Columbia 
section, the most difficult of all, was awarded to Onderdonk & Co. 
of New York. 

In 1880, finding the labor too great, the Government wisely 
determined to put the construction of the road in the hands of 
a syndicate, which subsequently resolved itself into a Com- 
pany. The syndicate was to receive from the Government 
25,000,000 acres of land, $25,000,000 in cash, and sections 2 
and 4 completed were given them as a present. The con- 
struction of all rival roads was prohibited for twenty years, all 
material for construction was to enter the Dominion free of 
duty, a free gift was made of all land required for workshops 
and stations, and an entire exemption of the whole property of 
the Company from taxation for twenty-five years. The road 
was, in consideration of these generous concessions, to be 
completed and put in running condition by May 1st, 1891. 

The road is divided into four sections, and from Montreal to 
Callander it follows the old Canada Central Railroad. 

Section First begins at Callander and ends at Port Arthur, 
657 miles. 



Art Science ^ Literature, and Commerce. 67 

Section Second, from Port Arthur to Red River, 42X miles. 

Section Third, fnun Red River to Sarona Ferry, 1,-52 
miles. 

Section Fourth, from Sarona IV ry to Tort Moody, 2 1} 
miles. 

Total, -,533 miles from Callander to the Pacific ( Icean. 

No sooner was the transfer to the syndicate accomplished 
than the work commenced with unparalleled vigor. The last 
rail was laid and the last spike driven on the 7th of November, 
1885. Thus in the short period of five years or four years less 
than the contract with the Government called for, the road was 
thoroughly equipped and in running order. 

CHARACTER OF THE ROAD AND ENGINEERING Ml I hi LTIES. 

More than 300 miles of the road have been cut through 
the hardest rock known to geologists — sienite and trap ; moun- 
tains had to be tunnelled by the score ; innumerable rivers of 
various sizes had to be spanned, some by iron bridges over a 
1,000 feet in length ; one by a wooden bridge 286 feet above 
the water — the highest structure of its kind in America. 
Xo le-s than fourteen streams had to be diverted from their 
natural beds, by tunnelling through the solid rock. The work 
went on summer and winter, sometimes the mercury stood at 
30 and 40 degrees below zero. On the Lake Superior section 
there was at one time an army of 1,200 men, and 2,000 teams of 
horses, which were supplemented in winter time by 300 
teams of dogs. 

The entire line is thoroughly built with the best of 



68 New Papers on Canadian History, 

material, nothing was spared to make it first class in every 
particular. 

The rails are of steel, and of English and Prussian manu- 
facture. 

The passenger equipment embraces many novelties not 
found elsewhere. The sleeping and dining-room cars are finished 
with rich upholstery, delicate carvings and antique brass-work, 
solid English comfort and artistic effect have been sought for in 
every detail. Bath-rooms, for ladies and for gentlemen, are pro- 
vided in the sleepers, and luxurious accommodation for smokers. 
The fare in the dining-room cars is all that the most fastidious 
epicure could ask, choice fruits from California are furnished 
in season, all the way across the continent. 

THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD BRIDGE ACROSS THE 
ST. LAWRENCE. 

I cannot omit drawing your attention to a great achieve- 
ment in railroading that has been accomplished by the directors 
of the Canadian Pacific Railroad during the past summer, viz. : 
the bridge across the St. Lawrence, about one mile below the 
village of Lachine, where the river has a width of 3,300 feet and 
a depth of 40 feet. The construction of this bridge, which 
is only a few miles above the Victoria bridge, furnishes a fine 
illustration of the great progress made in the mechanical 
arts during the last twenty-five years. The " Victoria " costs 
$8,000,000 and six years were consumed in its construction, 
the " Canadian Pacific " has been completed in less than one 
year, at a cost of less than $1,000,000. 

The masonry consists of two abutments and fifteen piers. 



.//'/, Science, Literature y and Commerce. 6g 

There arc tour land spans of So feet in Length. Eight arches 
of 240 feet each, of the ordinary Pratt truss, - an the river 
from both ihores, while the channel portion of the river is 
crossed by two flanking spans of 270 feet in length, and two 

through "Cantilever" spans, each 408 feet long, these latter 
spans have an elevation of Co feet above ordinal)- summe - 
water level. 

The most difficult portion of the work was that of anchor- 
ing the piers of solid masonry on the rock}- bed which, in some 
instances, was not only 40 feet below the surface but covered 
by a " hard pan " deposit 14 feet in thickness, which had all to 
be removed in a cur ent of ten miles an hour. This difficult 
task was performed under the supervision of Mr. R. |. Reid 
of the firm of Messrs. Reid and Fleming. Original and most 
ingenious methods were resorted to. After the bottom had been 
carefully cleaned off w ith a dredge, a bottomless caisson made I 
square timber, with carefully caulked sides, was sunk upon the 
site of the pier; once sunk the small spaces between the n ck and 
the bottom of the caisson were carefully packed by divers with 
bags of concrete. As soon as this was accomplished, large iron 
boxes containing two cubic yards of concrete were lowered 
inside the caisson, and by means of a crank acting upon a false 
bottom, the concrete was deposited in the caisson which on an 
average contained but one foot of water. The concrete was 
composed of one part Portland cement, one part sand and 
three parts broken stone. The day after the concrete had 

reached one-third the depth of the caisson, it was found suffi- 
ciently hardened to allow pumping and stop water from entering. 
After levelling this first course, it was then ready to receive 



yo New Papers on Canadian History, 

the masonry, which in some cases lies at a depth of 25 feet from 
the water level. This system had the double advantage of 
avoiding the expense, risk and loss of time entailed by the use 
of coffer-dams of old; it gave a solid, and durable bed for 
the masonry to rest upon, — a bed capable of resisting a head 
of 24 feet of water one day after its laying, and which, as time 
goes on, will certainly become as hard as rock itself. 

To accurately anchor the caissons in such a rapid current 
was considered to be one of the most difficult operations of 
the whole work. This was effected with the aid of scows, 
anchors, chains and wire-ropes. For piers 13 and 14 these 
means were not considered sufficient and entirely practicable; 
therefore a rough crib in the shape of a truncated triangle was 
primarily sunk in front of those piers, the up-stream end of the 
crib was 10 feet long, the sides and lower end being 30 feet 
long, it was made of pieces of timber 10 inches apart, thus 
allowing the water to pass through and reducing the pressure 
of the current against it. The^e cribs were easily held in the 
rapid current, a small quantity of stone was afterwards brought 
to bear on their bottom, and as they were filled with stones, 
the latter stopped the current while offering at the same time 
greater resistance to the pressure of the water ; when entirely 
filled these cribs formed a large eddy, behind which the perma- 
nent caissons were floated. The eddies were so strong that 
the caissons were forced up-stream, and instead of having to haul 
them against the current, it required a slight force to pull them 
down the stream into position. 

Thus one of the most difficult problems in the construction 
of the bridge was solved in a cheap, rapid and satisfactory 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ji 

manner. When the tenders for the masonry were called for in 
October, 1SS5, requiring, under penalties, the completion of the 
foundations by the 30th of November, [886, only three contract- 
ors bold enough were found to compete for the job. Engineers 

and others who had seen a similar work occupy the genius of 
a Stephenson and a Brunei! six years for its construction, 
declared that it was utterly impossible to perform the work 
within the specified time. The steel for the superstructure was 
furnished by the Steel Company of Scotland, while the bi 
proper was constructed by the Dominion Bridge Company of 
Lachine. 

The whole of this great work has been executed under the 
supervision of chief engineer, P. Alex. Peterson ; and Mr. 
E. Shaler Smith, member of the American Society of Civil 
Eng ineers, acted as Consulting Engineer for the superstructuie. 

i This portion of the lecture was beautifully illustrated by 
an outline drawing of the bridge kindly furnished by Mr. Van 
Home, Vice-President of the Canadian Pacific] 

DIMENSIONS OF THE DOMINION. 

I alluded in the beginning of my lecture to the ignorance 
of Americans respecting the geographical extent and resources 
of Canada. 

Let us study for a few moments this fine chart of the 
Dominion, across which you see the track of the Canadian 
Pacific Railroad, as indicated by the black line passing over the 
two eastern provinces of Quebec and ( hitario, covering 290,42 1 
square miles, and stretching from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to 



J2 New Papers on Canadian History, 

the Red River ; fasten your eyes upon the vast region once 
known as the North-western provinces purchased from the 
Hudson Bay Company in 1870, and now divided into four pro- 
vinces : Assinaboia, 95,000 square miles ; Saskatchewan, 1 14,000 
square miles ; Alberta, 100,000 square miles and Athabasca, 
122,000 square miles. We have in these four provinces an area 
of 2,665,252 square miles, a region larger than all Russia in 
Europe, while the total area of the United States is but 
3,547,000 square miles. The world is beginning to find out 
that this vast region which was once supposed to be forever 
abandoned to the beaver and the polar bear, really contains 
some of the finest wheat and grazing lands of the continent. I 
do not allude now to the comparatively well-known resources 
of Manitoba and Assinaboia, but of regions lying four hundred 
miles north of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, as far up as the 
Wild Peace River, where has been grown the No. 1 wheat which 
received the first prize at the Centennial Exposition in Phila- 
delphia. 

Again, look at this magnificent province of Manitoba, 
with its 123,200 square miles of area. Here are 75,000,000 
acres, claimed by the enthusiastic " Winnipeggers " to be the 
wheat-field of the world, six million bushels of wheat found 
their way to the markets of the province last year. An expert 
estimates the average yield per acre throughout Manitoba at 
18 bushels per acre, of which 95 per cent, will grade No. I 
hard. For 300 miles west of Winnipeg and for many miles on 
either side of the railroad, 95 per cent, of the prairie is excel- 
lent wheat-land, a rich black loomy soil of exhaustless fertility. 
In the Qu'Appelle Valley there is in successful operation a 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 

joint-stock farm of 64,000 acres (ioo square miles). This year 
the proprietors expected to send 500,000 bushels of surplus 

wheat to the market. The Manitoba wheat is well known .is 

being extremely hard, yielding 50 per cent, more than 
Minnesota wheat. There are physical causes tor this. The 
further you travel towards the northern limit of its growth, the 

finer the quality of the soil you meet. The subsoil, throughout 
the intense heats ana droughts of summer, is kept moist by the 
slow melting of the deep winter frosts ; the moisture reaches up 
and nourishes the roots of the grain, and secures the crop, 
although the clouds may withold the later rains. Again, the sun- 
shine in this land of the North is longer just at the needed time, 
when the ears are ripening. Heat alone will not bring wheat 
to maturity, solar light is also needed, and the greater its 
amount the better the result ; and from the 15th of June to the 
1st of July there are nearly two hours more day-light in Mani- 
toba than in Ohio. 

The valley of the Red and Assinaboine rivers alone are 
capable of feeding a population of many millions. Lord 
Selkirk was ridiculed, in [8l2 when he said these " hyperborean 
alluvials would, some day, maintain a population of 30,000,000 
souls." The child is born who will see Lord Selkirk's predic- 
tion realized. Immigrants are coming every day and from 
every part of the world, from Iceland and Russia, Sweden and 
Scotland; on foot and by steam, on horse-back and mule-back. 
and in the slow lumbering "ships of the prairie " — 

We hear the tread of pioneers of nations yet to lie, 

The first low wash • ► f waves where SOOn shall roll a human sea. 



j/f. New Papers on Canadian History, 

If Manitoba is to supply the world with bread, the succulent 
beefsteaks and blooded horses will come from Alberta. It is 
the ranch-ground of Canada, one vast area stretching from the 
Red Deer River and across the Bow Valley to the south of 
Belly River. We have reached here the foot of the great 
snow-capped Rockies, the backbone of the continent ; but, to 
our surprise, there is in the air a warmth and a moisture 
different from anything yet experienced. The climate is more 
that of England than Canada ; it is cooler in summer and 
warmer in winter than in the plains below and behind us. 
The "chinook" winds, wafting the moisture from the Kuro 
Siwo — or Japan gulf-stream of the Pacific Ocean — blow with 
regularity through the defiles of the mountains ; their action so 
temperates the atmosphere during the winter that snow seldom 
accumulates to any great depth, or that severe cold weather 
prevails to any great extent, not to a sufficient extent to 
prevent cattle and horses from roaming, all the year round and 
uncared for, upon the thousand hills and surrounding valleys. 

Calgary, the capital of Alberta, is admirably situated on a 
high plateau, at the junction of the Elbow and Bow rivers, 
from whence there is a superb view of the distant peaks and 
slopes of the mountains. It is about 65 miles from the Rockies, 
and 840 miles from Winnipeg. 

The atmosphere is a marvel of purity and clearness, 
objects ten miles away appear to be only two miles distant. 
Words spoken in ordinary tones, at half a mile distance, can be 
heard distinctly. If I thought of emigrating to the Dominion, 
Alberta would certainly be my choice. 

Finally, let us look at that great Province or empire, as 






.7/7, Science, Literature, and Commerce, j$ 

British Columbia might be justly called. Its area of $41,305 
square miles, is larger than Great Britain and France combined, 
and five times as large as all the New England States. \<<u 

see the road upon which we are to travel cutting across the 
three great mountain ranges that divide it : the Rocky, the 
Selkirk ami the Gold. How audacious the attempt to run a 
train of cars over this seemingly inextricable tangle formed by 
raging torrents, treacherous glaciers and abrupt mountains, 
presenting the aspect as if a vast molten sea, lashed by titanic 
forces into gigantic billows, had been suddenly petrified at the 
extreme height of the storm ! 

Fifty years ago, this great Province was virtually unknot n 
to the trappers of the Hudson Bay Company. In [843 .1 
fur-governor was stationed at Fort Camosun, now the beautiful 
city of Victoria, to receive the valuable pelts which the Indians 
brought in from the interior. Though it cannot yet be said of 
this Province that it is a land flowing with milk ami hone}-, yet 
it is a beautiful country, endowed by nature with fertile fields, 
rich mines, the grandest scenery in North America, and a mild 
and salubrious climate. 

EN ROUTK FOR VANCOUVER. 

But let us retrace our imaginary steps, and begin at the 
starting point of our journey of five days and twelve hours. 

Having secured at Montreal our sleeping accommodation 
through to the Pacific, we take the daily express train at 
Ottawa about midnight, and going immediately to bed. 
wake up the next morning to find the train skirting the 
shores of the beautiful Lake Nipissing. The Jesuit mission- 



y6 New Papers on Canadian History, 

aries found the Indians residing around this Lake so beset with 
spirits and infested by demons, that they called it " The Lake 
of the Sorcerers." It abounds with fish of great size, affording 
fine sport for experts of the rod and reel ; deer and cariboo are 
plentiful about its shores. Nipissing was repeatedly crossed 
by Champlain in his foreys against the Iroquois, and was in 
the direct line of communication used by the Hudson Bay 
voyageurs and its agents in their annual trips from Montreal to 
Fort William. 

During all of the next thirty hours we traverse a region for- 
bidding to the eye ; it is a puzzle to geologists and is destined 
for all times to be a cause of despair to the agriculturist. We 
are in the region of the " Laurentides " or " Laurentian Hills," 
that gigantic granite chain which rises on the coast of Lab- 
rador, and, after forming the northerly wall of the St. Lawrence 
Valley, sends one of its spurs down into the state of New York, 
where it towers up into the majestic Adirondacks, another spur 
circles the north shore of Lake Superior, whilst a third one 
sweeps northward and westward and finally sinks into the 
icy sea. 

Professor Agassiz expressed the opinion that this Lauren- 
tian range was the oldest land on our globe, the first to lift its 
head above the primeval waters, and obey the almighty fiat : 
" Let the dry land appear." Vegetation has a hard struggle 
here with the rocks and crags, hewn into every shape by the 
storms of years, and the boulder-strewn beds of antidiluvian 
lakes and rivers ; but stores of minerals of incalculable wealth 
lie buried in the bosom of these hills. 

At Sudburg junction 1444 miles from Montreal) the much 






./;-/, Science^ Literature, and Commerce. yj 

abused "Algoma Mills" branch juts off, 93 miles to Georgian 
Bay. This branch road will be soon extended to Sault 

Ste. -Marie, and there will connect with the projected road from 
Duluth. The Canadian Pacific Company have opened at 1 
point six miles north-west of Sudburg, copper mines of 
wonderful promise. The ores are sulphides containing an 
average of i<>'_. per cent, in copper. An expert says, " I feel 
safe in saying there are here two hundred million tons <>f ore 
in sight, and above the surface of the country." 

As Port Arthur is approached, the glorious scenery of Lake 
Superio and Thunder Bay make an imp ession which the 
traveller will never forget. Thunder Cape, like a mighty 
janitor of the harbor, rises abruptly 1,400 feet above the hike. 
Across the water, the dark mass of the McKay's mountains 
looms up majestically, while Pie Island sits astride the mouth 
of the harbor like a huge Monitor at anchor. These three 
gigantic upheavals stand in massive dignity, like three em- 
perors, each with a cloud}- crown about his head. 

Six miles from Tort Arthur is the rival ami once famous 
settlement of Fort William. When the North-west Fur 
Company was in its glory, Fort William was the place where 
the leading partners from Montreal proceeded in great State, 
once a year, to meet their agents and factor from the various 
trading-posts of the northern wilderness, to discuss the affairs 
of the Company and arrange plans for the future. Wrapped 
in rich furs, their huge canoes freighted with every convenience 
and luxury, and manned by Canadian voyageurs, these fur- 
lord ascended the Ottawa and the Matawan to Lake 
Nipissing, thence up the French River to Lake Sup< 



y8 New Papers on Canadian History, 

They had a retinue of cooks and bakers, casks of choice 
wines, delicacies of every kind, in fact everything necessary for 
the banquets which were indispensable adjuncts of these great 
meets. In an immense wooden building was the great council 
hall and which also served as a banqueting hall, decorated 
with Indian arms and acoutrements, and trophies of the fur- 
trade from the Rocky Mountains to the Arctic Ocean. 

There was a vast deal of solemn deliberation, hard Scottish 
reasoning and drinking. The tables groaned under the weight 
of game of all kinds : venison from the woods, fish from the 
lakes, with hunters' delicacies, such as buffalo tongue and 
beaver tail, and various luxuries from London, all served up 
by experienced cooks. 

While the chiefs thus revelled in the Hall and made the 
rafters resound with bursts of loyalty and old Scottish songs, 
chanted in voices cracked and sharpened by northern blasts 
and blizzards, their merriment was echoed and prolonged by a 
mongrel legion of Canadian half-breeds, Indian hunters and 
vagabond hangers-on, who feasted sumptuously on the crumbs 
that fell from the tables, and made the welkin ring with old 
French ditties, mingled with Indian yelps and yellings. 

The feudal state of Fort William is a thing of the past. Its 
banquet hall is deserted, its council chamber in ruins and the 
fur-lords of the lakes and forests have vanished forever like 
the buffalo and the beaver. Three hundred miles from Port 
Arthur, we reach Rat Portage, the capital of the enormous 
but not prepossessing district of Keewatin, the " country of the 
north wind," and the " Lake of the Woods' " station. This 
lake, — once supposed to be the source of the Mississippi River, 



.Irt, Science^ Literature, and Commerce. yg 

and the starting-point for a boundary line in every treaty 

between Great Britain and the United States, — is [ 80 miles 
long and a veritable paradise for hunters, fishermen and the 
lovers of nature, in her inner sanctuaries. It is a favorite 
place for summer excursionists from Winnipeg, and unequalled 
as a place for camping parties. 

Pierre Jaultier tie Varennnes, Lord of Verendroge, built 
forts on the islands of this lake one hundred years before Lewis 
and Clark saw tie waters of the "great river of the west." It 
was here one of Verendroge's sons, a Jesuit priest, and twenty 
men were massacred by the Sioux. The lake is so profusely 
dotted with islands that it seems, as it shifts and winds about 
in its devious channel, like a wondrously beautiful river. 

Just half way across the continent, 1,434 miles from 
Montreal, 1.486 miles from Vancouver and 1,827 miles from 
New York, we reach the city of Winnipeg, the ambitious rival 
of Chicago. It is one of the "seven wonders" of the New 
World — whatever the other six ma)- be; it is the central city 
of the continent and, probably within the very near future, one 
of the large t. 

In 1870, when General mow Lord) Wolseley reached 
Manitoba to quell the Red River rebellion, all there was of 
Winnipeg consisted in a few huts and cottages erected by the 
pioneers close to the walls of Fort Garry, as a protection against 
the knives and tomahawks of the savages. To-day it is a proud 
city of 30,000 inhabitants, with substantial and beautiful 
buildings and churches, which would do credit to London 
New York ; it claim- four hundred bu iness houses ; more 
than fifty manufacturing establishments, fifty good hotels and 



So New Papers on Canadian History, 

over a dozen banking-houses. Last year, 6,000,000 bushels of 
wheat passed through the Winnipeg elevators. Three daily 
papers furnish the citizens the news of the world. Six 
railroads center at Winnipeg and discharge at all hours 
of the day crowds of tourists, emigrants, farmers, merchants, 
and fill the streets with a busy, bu:tling concourse that reminds 
one of Broadway or Charing Cross. I spoke of six different 
railroads, but soon there will a seventh, which, according to the 
sanguine projectors, is destined :o revolutionize the traffic of 
the continent. 

Sir Hugh Sutherland, President of the Manitoba and 
Hudson Bay Railway, promises that in two years' time trains 
will be running from Winnipeg to Churchill Harbor — Hudson 
Bay— a distance of 715 miles. From Winnipeg to Liverpool, 
via Hudson Bay, is but 3,641 miles, that is 783 miles less than 
by way of Montreal, and 1,032 miles shorter than by Chicago. 

It is claimed by the projectors of this new route that it 
will considerably shorten the distance between the two great 
empires of the East and England's principal shipping port. 
Between Liverpool, China and Japan, a gain of 1,117 miles is 
made over the Montreal rou:e, while a gain of 2,136 miles will 
be effected over the San Francisco and New York route. The 
new route will not only control the wheat traffic of all the 
north-western Provinces of the Dominion, but likewise that 
of Minnesota, Dakota, Montana and Washington Territory. 
The farmer shipping direct to Liverpool via Hudson Bay, 
will receive at least 15 per cent, more for his grain and save 
the interference of middlemen. 

Time will prove the truth or fallacy of these fond hopes. 



Art, Science Literature y and Commerce. Si 

Deriding skeptics say that the first ship loaded with wheal th I 
gets blocked up, and has to spend six months in the i© 
Hudson Strait, will prick this bubble into flatulency. Others 

affirm that a safe and expeditious passage can be depended 
upon five months in the year. 

Evidently Sir Hugh believes in the road, and as the 

government has guaranteed the interest on §5,000,000 worth of 
bonds, it is more than likely that the road will be completed. 

The next step in order will be the building of a branch 
road to Fort Yukon ; and that wonderful child, already spoken 
of, may yet see the iron horse careering down the valley of the 
Yukon and cooling his heels in the icy waters of Behring Sea. 

Taking again our point of departure at Winnipeg, we have 
a stretch of 800 miles of prairie before reaching the foot of the 
Rockies. We pass on our way the thriving town of Brandon 
(which, before it was a year old, had grown into a city of 2,500 
inhabitants i, and reach Regina, the capital of the new territory 
of Assinaboia. Regina is the head-quarters of the " mounted 
police," the most efficient organized body of 500 men in the 
world — the terror of evil-doers in general and rumsellers and 
drinkers in particular. 

Having already spoken in my preliminary remarks of the 
Province of Alberta, and its capital Calgary, we pause once more 
before climbing the mountains, at Bauff, which is destined, like 
the Hot Springs of Arkansas, to be the great sanitarium for 
rheumatic and other diseases of a chronic nature. Here, at .1 
great elevation, surrounded by snow-clad mountains, we found 
hot sulphur springs of varying temperatures. 

1 met a man who told me that he had suffered such 



82 New Papers on Canadian History, 

tortures from chronic rheumatism that, despairing of relief, he 
had come to these springs resolved to kill himself if he did not 
find relief. After a few weeks bathing, his limbs relaxed from 
their fearful distorted condition, pain and agony subsided, and 
finally he was perfectly restored to health. The Canadian 
Pacific Railroad Company are erecting a first-class hotel on the 
spot, having every convenience for tourists and invalids, and 
unquestionably Bauff is destined for an important future. 

OVER THE MOUNTAINS. 

Forty-two miles from Calgary — up the Valley of the Bow 
River — we reach the foot of the hills, and the scenery becomes 
beautiful beyond description. At Padmore, 904 miles from 
Winnipeg, we are in the midst of the mountains, however the 
soil is still good and productive. The Stoney Indians, the best 
in the North-west, own large herds of cattle and horses, and 
hunt the wild-sheep and goats, the mountain-deer and the small 
fur animals of the mountain parks. Great mineral wealth is 
believed to exist in this portion of the route, not only gold and 
silver mines, but extensive and accessible coal-fields, both 
bituminous and anthracite. 

The " Yellow Head " pass — far to the north of the present 
route and near the source of the Fraser river — was the point 
first chos2n for crossing the Rockies, but after long and 
continued explorations the line was located thence down the 
North Thompson. However, after the road had been trans- 
ferred to a syndicate by the government, an air-line from 
Winnipeg was decided upon, and the gap of the Bow River, 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 83 

known henceforth as the Kicking Horse River — so-called from 
the refractory steed of the engineer who mapped out the 

international boundaries — was the point finally chosen to ( 
the Rock\- Mountains. 

The adoption of this route saved 100 miles, while the road 
on that account was not more difficult to build nor more 
heavily graded than on the longer northern line, and its 
natural resources in land and minerals much greater. The 
highest peak above the pass was named Mount Stephen, aftei 
the President of the road. The bed of the road in the pass 
reaches an altitude of 5,300 feet above the sea-level, but its 
approaches from the east do not exceed the grade of 40 feet to 
the mile, save in the upper five miles of the Bow River where 
the rise reaches 75 feet per mile. The work of construction 
was easy through this pass. 

The scenery here is grand beyond description, with beau- 
tiful peaks and abrupt mountains 5,000 and 6,000 feet high. 
It is generally cold at night, but the " chinook " winds do not 
allow the snow to remain long on the ground, save upon the 
summit of the mountains. Sometimes a heavy snow-storm is 
seen raging far above, while the sun shines in the valleys below. 

The summit itself is a plateau four miles long dotted with 
lakes. The first, going west, is Summit Lake, the source 
of Summit Creek ; the second, Link Lake, seems to have neither 
exit nor entrance, no visible supply and no outlet ; whilst the 
third and largest is the source of the noisy, impetuous Kicking- 
Horse River, which springs from its parent head, a wild, strong 
stream 50 feet wide, gaining in volume and speed as it rushes 
down the Kicking Horse Valley. Although the total length 



8 4 New Papei'S on Canadian History, 

of this river is but 47 miles, its fall, until it finally merges with 
the broad Columbia, the great river of the west, is over 2,800 
feet The railway follows the Kicking Horse River for 45 
miles, and upon this plateau the work was. not only extremely 
heavy, but the gradients and curves were more difficult 
than any yet encountered on the route. The lowest gradient 
obtained was 116 feet to the mile, or about 1 in 45 ; this rate 
of descent is maintained for 17 miles in one stretch. The 
heaviest work had to be performed upon the upper part of the 
plateau ; here, in the distance of six miles, three tunnels of an 
aggregate length of 1,800 feet had to be constructed, and the 
Columbia had to be crossed three times. The work on the 
next ten miles was tolerably easy although the gradient was 
heavy; the lower part of the plateau has two or three tunnels 
of about 1,400 feet ; the river is crossed no less than eight times, 
and the same heavy gradient, with curves of ten degrees, or 
573 feet radius, had to be resorted to. 

The road follows the Beaver River to the summit of the 
Selkirk range, which is 96 miles from the summit of the Rockies, 
and is about 1,000 feet lower, or 4,316 feet above sea-level. In 
the ascent the heavy gradient of 116 feet to the mile is again 
resorted to for about 16 miles, and then for 20 miles further on 
in descending the western slope. 

At the head of the Loop, a magnificent glacier sweeps 
down almost to the very edge of the rails. More glaciers are 
seen in the distance, but this one towers upwards to the cloud 
line, just back of the station. A comfortable hotel is being 
erected at the foot of the glacier, where tourists can enjoy a 
refreshing sojourn and explore the mountain of ice. 



Art % Science^ Literature^ and Comment-. 85 

The whole region between the main range <>f the Rocky 
Mountains and the Pacific is a vast disturbed rock formation. 

For 800 miles in a north-west and south-cast direction 
there is a valuable belt of metalliferous rocks, and in addition 
much of the country is heavily wooded. The Canadian Pacific 
Railway having penetrated here, the whole of this immense 
mining district has now a great future, and the gold of the 
Columbia and Kootenay rivers as well as the galena along 
Kootenay Lake is made accessible. The country lying around 
the mother lakes of the Columbia, and much of the Kootenay 
River valley, is interspersed with forest and prairie lands 
favorable to settlement, and admirably adapted for cattle rais- 
ing. It only needs means of communication to make it equal 
to any part of the Dominion. The " bunch " grass, which 
grows constantly and is green at heart, even in mid-winter, is 
one of the most valuable pasture grass in the world, and is 
found everywhere in abundance, even at an altitude as high as 
l,ooo feet above the sea-level. The climate in the Kootenay 
district, from the Rocky Mountains to the Shuswap Lake, is 
very much like the mountainous portion of France, whilst 
west of the Rockies to the Pacific it compares favorably with 
that of the south of England. 

The vast region surrounding the beautiful Shuswap Lake, 
close to the railroad Station of Sicamous, is a veritable haven 
for the lovers of the gun and rod ; as much can be said of the 
district in the vicinity of the famous Okanagan Lake, which is 
reached by the same lailroad station and thence by the Spila- 
macheen River. The water of these lakes is alive with fish, 
and their surface which is seen from the car-windows, is liter- 



86 New Papers on Canadian History, 

ally covered with swan, geese and ducks of every variety. The 
Okanagan region is also famous for its delicious bunch grass, 
and it is claimed that its valleys can produce the finest wheat 
in the world. 

The tourist should not fail to stop at Yale, where the 
scenery is magnificently beautiful, affording all, in the form of 
raging torrent and snow-crowned mountain, that the most vivid 
imagination can paint. If time can be spared a visit to the 
once famous Cariboo gold mines, up the roaring Frazer River, 
will well repay the traveller. Here may be found wild mountain 
scenery unsurpassed for grandeur on our globe, and yet in the 
midst of this wildness there is a vegetation luxuriant in freshness. 
Wherever there is a crevice, even at the very base of the snow- 
clad peaks, are found clumps of the beautiful Douglass pine ; 
lower down, and wherever a handfull of soil can rest, are myriads 
of wild-flowers and lilies of the valley. 

Skirting further on the north bank of the Frazer River to 
within a few miles of New Westminster — where the river leaves 
the Frazer Valley and crosses the lowlands of the Pitt River 
marshes — the road reaches Port Moody, at the extremity of the 
southern arm of Buward Inlet. The grand terminus of the 
Canadian Pacific Railway is established at Vancouver, six miles 
further down the Inlet, where the government of British Colum- 
bia has given the railroad company a tract of land nine square 
miles in extent. Here is the prospective site — as I was told — of 
the great metropolis of the Pacific coast, a contemplated rival 
of San Francisco. I was offered a building lot 25x50 feet, 
with the primitive forest still standing on it, for $1,000, but I 
did not purchase it. Meanwhile, as an injunction at present 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. Sj 

hinders the train from running through to Vancouver, we have 
to take the steamer at Port Moody for Victoria, 75 miles 
distant across the Gulf of Georgia, which is, for all passen 
the real terminus of the road. 

VANCOUVER ISLAND. 

The termini question of the Canadian Pacific Railway has 
been a cause of great anxiety to dwellers on the Pacific slope 
of the Dominion, and the occasion of no little bad blood on 
the part of disappointed speculators. Sir John A. Macdonald, 
with his wonted astuteness, essayed to cut the gordian-knot at 
a reception given him by the people of Victoria last An 

" We are not, said he, to be limited to Halifax, Quebec, 
Montreal or B itish Columbia, whether it be Port Moody or 
Victoria — the termini of the Canadian Pacific Railway are- 
Liverpool and Hong-Kong ! " 

Victoria, the chief city of the island, and the capital of 
the Province, is a charming place ; it has a population of 12,000 
which is increasing rapidly. Founded in 1843 by the Hudson 
Bay Company, it received the name of Fort Camosun. In 1843, 
in honor of the Prince Consort, the name was changed to that 
of Albert, but later on and in the same year, it was definitely 
named Victoria. 

In 1857-58, the discovery of gold on the main-land attr. 
crowds of adventurers, and Victoria experienced the same kind 
of "boom" that cursed Winnipeg in 1XS2. Thirty thousand 
gold hunters from California and the American territories 
invaded the Province, and made incursions into the wilds of 



88 New Papers on Canadian History, 

the Frazer River placers. The destruction of the fur-trade and 
the almost total disorganization of society were the results of 
this invasion. A few hundreds — surviving to famine and every 
hardship — secured bags of gold ; but the rest perished miser- 
ably, or drifted back to Victoria, demoralized and ruined. 
During this period of aggressive rowdyism, the main-land was 
constituted into a colony. 

In 1866, Vancouver Island was legislatively united to the 
main-land and the name of British Columbia was given the 
colony, which became in 1871 a Province of the Dominion. 
Until the first train from Montreal arrived at Port Moody, the 
Union was little better than one on paper ; but now, with 
daily trains bringing mails and passengers in twelve days from 
England, with her three hundred miles of gold-bearing quartz 
mountains, her splendid harbors, her coal-fields, her fisheries 
and forests, the future of British Columbia is assured. She is 
destined to gravitate to the very front rank of the communities 
on the Pacific, if not to become some day the strongest and 
richest Province of the Dominion. 

The climate of Victoria is the most equable in the world. 
The winter is especially mild, the mercury seldom reaching the 
freezing point. The summer is temperate, heat seldom rising 
above 72 . Southerly winds prevail two-thirds of the year. 
Summer lasts from April to October; flowers bloom out-doors 
the whole year. And yet in Victoria we are here six degrees 
north of Quebec, in latitude 50. The softness of the climate is 
due to " Kuro Siwo," which brings the warmer temperature of 
the Japan and China seas, in the same way as the gulf-stream 
tempers the climate of the British Islands. The weather of 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce* 89 

Vancouver Island is said by those who have thoroughly tested 
the matter to be milder and more agreeable than that of the 
south of England, the summers longer and finer, the winters 
shorter and less rigorous 

The harbor proper of Victoria is small, with a difficult pass : 
but the adjacent harbor of Esquimault, across a narrow neck 
of land, affords all the requisites of a first-class naval station. 
The Imperial Government is spending large sums here, and 
in the outer royal-roads the largest men-of-war can ride 
safely. 

At an early future Esquimault will undoubtedly be the 
emporium of an immense trade with the Asiatic ports, and 
fortnightly lines of first-class steamers, subsidized by the Home 
Government, will ply regularly between Victoria, Hong-Kong 
and Australia. 

The coast fisheries are almost illimitable, and their capab- 
ilities have hardly been put to contribution ; yet, the principal 
species are halibut, salmon, cod and herring. In some of the 
narrow estuaries and bays, at flood-tide the water is so densely 
packed with salmon struggling to reach a spawning-ground. 
that it is actually possible sometimes to lay boards upon the 
backs of the swarms and walk over dry shod. Halibut, from 
100 to 500 lbs., are common. For ten cents Indians will furnish 
enough fish to feed ten men. Herring are raked out of the 
\\ iter by boat loads. 

Here is a grand and exhaustless industry awaiting develop- 
ment ; and, as if Providence had designed to indicate a way to 
utilization, salt-springs of great value, yielding 3446 gr. of salt 
to each gallon of water, have been discovered near Nanaimo. 



go New Papers on Canadian History, 

It would pay the Dominion Government a handsome dividend 
to transport bodily the starving population of the icy coasts of 
Labrador to the prolific shores of British Columbia. 

Some day the wheat-fields of Manitoba may become 
exhausted and refuse to yield their tribute ; the forests of 
Ontario and Quebec may perish before the woodman's axe and 
the devastating flames, but the riches of the ocean are inex- 
haustible, and each recurrent tide will bring to the inhabitants 
of this favored land abundant food. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I have detained you longer than 
was my purpose, but my excuse for this encroachment upon 
your patience and comfort lies in the fact that even a partial 
development of the subject under consideration was out of 
proportion to the one-hour time to which I should have con- 
fined myself. I may have been incoherent and sometimes 
perhaps inconsequential in my remarks ; but I shall be content 
if I have succeeded, even in an imperfect degree, in diffusing a 
knowledge of what Lord Beaconsfield once happily phrased : 
" The boundless regions and illimitable possibilities of the great 
North-west." 

In concluding, I may be permitted to remark to the mem- 
bers of the Canadian Club of New York, that my countrymen, 
the great people of the United States, entertain no petty 
jealousies for such noble competitors as I have told you of 
to-night, but taking only into account the good secured, they 
hail with joy the opening of this new route to the riches of the 
mighty West. The honors of knighthood were never more 
worthily bestowed by royalty upon any subject, than by Her 
Majesty Queen Victoria upon the President of the Canadian 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 



9* 



Pacific Railroad. Sir George Stephen, in recognition of his 
great abilities and persevering industry in bringing this great 
work to so speedy and happy a completion. 




THE HUMOROUS SIDE OF CANADIAN 
HISTORY. 



/. //'. BEXGOL'GH, Editor Toronto Grip. 



Read before the Canadian Club 
of New York. 



AN I convey to you, in the hour 
at my disposal, as much solid 
information as you may be in need 
of? Probably yea, because the 
lectures given in this course, under 
the auspices of the Canadian Club, 
have naturally pertained to that 
glorious country, Canada. But, so 
far as I am aware, no speaker has 
yet dealt systematically with the history of Canada. 

Pending the arrival of Mr. Goldwin Smith, who is at 
present engaged umpiring for the foot-ball club at Cornell, 
I propose to devote my hour to the subject suggested, and in 
case Mr. Smith should feel offended by my intrusion into his 
special domain, I will endeavor to mollify him in advance by 




pj New Papers on Canadian History, 

making a pretty portrait of him right here. [A rapid sketch 
here set forth a picture at once recognized by the audience as 
—not Goldwin Smith— but Mr. Whitelaw Reid.] 

Perhaps, before going on, I ought to apologize to the 
American portion of my audience for not having chosen a theme 
of greater novelty to them than the History of Canada. I had 
anticipated an audience made up chiefly of Canadians, but it is 
too late now to rectify the mistake. I am well aware that the 
citizens of the United States are just as familiar with Canada, 
her history and her affairs, as they are with Chinese Tartary, 
and I can hardly hope to tell them anything they do not know. 
But in view of the fact that Canada and the Republic have 
many features in common, besides baseball, and that many 
more or less distant relatives of American citizens are residing 
in that country, having in a few cases been struck somewhat 
suddenly by its charms as a place of residence, and having 
since exhibited a clinging affection for it, which few native 
Canadians can rival, it seems to me that all will be interested 
in the theme I have selected. 

Canada is the name given to the greater portion of the 
continent of North America, and politically it is an integral 
portion of the British Empire. I mention this because there is 
an impression prevailing in Ohio and some other foreign coun- 
tries, that Canada is owned by a railway syndicate. This is a 
mistake. Nominally Canada belongs to Great Britain, it con- 
tributes the adjective to the title, as Britain itself is only a small 
affair, but really and practically the vast Dominion is owned 
and run by the handsome and picturesque people so well 
represented in blanket suits on the present occasion. [Allud- 






Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 95 

ing to the uniformed snowshoers ranged upon the platform.] 
I may just remark here, en passotig, as they say in Montreal, 
that the Canadian people when at home, invariably dress in 
the costume here shown, just as the people of New Jersey weai 
long-tailed coats and short breeches with straps to them, and 
bell-crowned beaver hats, with stars on their waistcoats and 
stripes on their pantaloons. It's the national costume you 
know, but they rarely venture out of the country with such 
good clothes on. When a Canadian makes up his mind to settle 
in New York, he invariably adopts the New York style of 
dress. He changes his clothes at the border, and then he goes 
in like a regular American, to Wall Street " born." Before long, 
so far as outward appearance goes, he would pass for a native 
New Yorker, and you could only tell he was a Canadian by 
contemplating the number of islands he owns and the magnitude 
of his fern- franchises. And this leads me to remark that when 
M. Bartholdi dressed that statue of his in Greek clothing, he 
availed himself of a poetic license. Canadians of the sterner 
sex never dress that way, never. To illustrate this point I will 
here make a rough sketch of the statue, as pictures of it are so 
rare in this city that its shape may have escaped your memory. 
Not only in the matter of costume, but also in the features, 
Bartholdi, with true French naivete, endeavored to conceal the 
fact that in this great work of art he was paying a delicate- 
compliment to a Canadian. He was afraid Mr. Wiman mightn't 
like it if made too literal. For I suppose it is pretty well 
known by this time that the statue is really meant for Wiman. 
The very fact that it stands there bossing an island is enough 
to suggest this, even if Bartholdi had never confessed his 



96 



New Papers on Canadian History, 



design. To be sure, mustache and mutton-chops do not look 
well in bronze, but they're all right on paper, and they're 
necessary in this case to expose Bartholdi's pleasant allegory. 
All that remains to be changed now is the legend, which is not 




" Liberty Enlightening the World," but " Wiman Defying New 
Jersey." 

This, however, is a digression from our historical subject. 
Canada was discovered by Jacques-Cartier, while engaged in a 
fishing cruise around the banks of New Foundland. From the 
banks to Canada would seem to be an unerring impulse of the 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. yj 

human mind. It is not true, however, that Cartier is French 
for cashier, and time has fully vindicated this gentleman's 
character, as the banks of New Foundland are to-day as sound 
as ever. The coincidence was startling, it must be confessed, 
and we can therefore excuse the newspapers of the day for 
hinting that there was something fishy about his sudden 
departure. 

This event occurred some time after Christopher Columbus 
had got in his work. And Columbus, by the way, as an illus- 
tration of patience and perseverance is worthy even of the study 
of those good Democratic statesmen who are waiting for 
Cleveland to " turn the rascals out." I don't know what 
Columbus looked like, but I feel sure that upon his counten- 
ance was stamped a calm tranquil expression that no delays and 
discouragements could change. If so, he didn't look much like 
this. [Here a wild-looking sketch of Mr. C. A. Dana was given.] 

Consider what Chris had to go through before he got 
started on that memorable voyage to India. It took him just 
twenty years to get started. Now, if it had been that he had 
to wait for Mrs. C. . . to get dressed, we wouldn't have wondered 
so much. But the trouble wasn't of that kind, it was purely 
financial. He couldn't sail without raising the wind, and mark 
his wonderful patience in raising it. Twenty years. The trouble 
was, nobody believed in his scheme as sound, and in the public 
interest. If it had been a surface-line franchise he was after, 
he might have convinced the Aldermen, but Christopher 
wasn't Sharp. It never occurred to him to get the ladies of the 
Congregation to go around with the book, though as a matter 
of fact he succeeded at last by the aid of a lady, Queen Isabella 



g8 New Papers on Canadici7i History, 

of Castile, whose name is to this day a sweet smelling savor, 
embalmed in an immortal kind of soap, " Matchless for the 
complexion.— Yours truly, LlLY Langtry." 

Columbus went from court to court after the boodle, it's a 
way boodlers have of going from court to court, if you notice — 
and at last he found a friend in Ferdinand. Ferdinand had a 
lot of the proceeds salted down, as was generally suspected, 
and he gave Columbus a check for the required amount, 
remarking, " Go West, young man, and grow up with the 
country." Thus was patience rewarded. The voyage was a 
severe one, everybody was sick of it and mutinied. Columbus 
stood on the quarter deck with his guitar and sang to the moon 
about everything being at sixes and at sevens. A bird alighted 
on the topmast ! Omen of success : Land must be nigh. With 
one rapid glance the piercing eye of Columbus seizes the happy 
portent. The fact that it was an Eagle proved that land must 
be near ; while the shield of stars and bars upon its breast, the 
Canada codfish falling from its talons, the ninety-cent dollar 
hanging from its neck, and finally its piercing cry of E 
Pluribus Unum proved that that land could be no other than 
America, where all men are born free and equal, but don't stay 
so. America was discovered ; no longer could it bashfully avoid 
the gaze of the other nations, and it doesn't. 

Columbus' work made a boom in the discovery business, 
and that's how Cartier happened to be around in time to 
discover Canada. Cartier was a Frenchman, and he handed 
over the country to the king of France, as a matter of course. 
This one action is enough to show that Cartier had no connec- 
tion with the Standard Oil Company ; but his simplicity in giving 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 



99 



away the country when he might have kept it himself has 
modified Mr. Gould's opinion of his otherwise admirable char- 
acter. This was the first time Canada was given away. The 




offence was repeated, I've heard, at the time of the Wash- 
ington treaty. Public opinion over there is opposed to this, as 
a regular thing, and at present there is a disposition to conserve 
the public interests, as it were. Perhaps I can convey the idea 
with a sketch. 



ioo New Papers on Canadian History, 

When Mr. Cartier first landed in Canada there were 
Indians there. I do not wish to pose as a sensationalist, nor 
to rudely upset your settled convictions for the mere purpose 
of startling you, but I do allege that there were more Indians 
in Canada then than there are now. Several more. In fact, the 
majority of the present inhabitants are white, though President 
Cleveland seem to think our Government doesn't act that way. 

The fact is the Indians are comparatively scarce now. 
They don't any longer pitch their tents in the main streets of 
Toronto, Montreal and Quebec. Most of them have been 
killed, though they still persist, the survivors, in playing 
Lacrosse. Had foot-ball, I mean the Yale and Andover variety, 
been known amongst them, the race would no doubt have been 
extinct. Then politics has no doubt helped to exterminate 
the Red Man. An Indian can eat most anything, but he must 
have pure air, and when the party caucus was established in 
Canada, the Indians had to go further back. You never find 
any Indians in the lobby at Ottawa. They couldn't stand it. 
I am informed that Indians take an active part in politics of 
Tammany Hall in this city, but that only shows that pure, 
mugwumpy politics isn't so fatal to them as the corrupt kind. 
At the same time I suspect that the Tammany politicians are 
not really Indians of a delicate type. In Cartier's time the popu- 
lation of Quebec was sixty, that is the pale-face population. As 
the uncivilized red men ruled on both sides of the St. Lawrence 
in those days, it is not likely that there were refugee defaulters. 
The Indian is pretty mean, but he isn't mean enough to have 
an extradition law that protects that sort of thief from justice. 

These white men were honest French voyageurs, but 



./;-/. Science. Literature, and Commerce. TOl 

there are probably sixty of the other fellows in Quebec to day. 
Such is progress and civilization. 

The manners of the early Indian tribes of Canada arc 
interesting. Their way of bringing up children, for example, 
was peculiar. The infant was strapped to a board and placed 
against a tree outside of the tent. This kept the youngster 
straight, which is more than the modern white method does : 
and besides it inured the child to the hardships of boarding 
out. I might also mention the Indian system of writing. In 
signing treaties, they used symbols for their names, thus the 
Great Chief Wise-Owl-YVho-sees-in-the-Dark, would sign in this 
way. [Here a rough outline sketch of an owl was given]. 

Now such a signature wasn't much as a work of art, but it 
was worth more on a treaty generally than the white man's. 
In too many cases the words our Canadian poet Mair has put 
into the mouth of an Indian character were true : 

" Our sacred treaties are infringed and torn, 
Laughed out of sanctity, and spurned away, 
Used by the Long Knife's slave to light his fire 
Or turned to kites by thoughtless boys, whose wrists 
Anchor their fathers lies in front of Heaven !" 

This Indian method of conveying ideas by means of 
pictures, is a great scheme, and is now in vogue in the highest 
journalistic circles. It forms the basis in fact, of the colossal 
and well-earned fortunes of Messrs. Keppler. Xa-t, Gillam, 
Opper. De Grimm, Hamilton, Zimmerman, Taylor and many 
other smart young men well known to you all. Of course in 
their hands it is § improved. They color their symbols 



102 New Papers on Canadian History, 

more or less gaudily, and sell them for ten cents a copy. And 
they finish them up better than the Indian artist used to. 
For instance, in this case they would put on the modern 
improvements in this way, and call it, Wise-Man-Looking-Two 
ways-for-a-Presidential-Nomination. [An owl was here trans- 
formed into General B. F. Butler.] 

The institution known as the lodge was universal among 
the aborigines, and one of their most striking characteristics 
was a fondness for display in the matter of dress. Nothing 
so tickled the untutored child of the forest as to be rigged in 
regalia, with feathers, sashes and ribbons, and the letters 
A. F. & A. M., or I. O. O. F., or other mysterious symbols 
be-spangling his bosom. In such a costume he thought 
nothing of fatigue, but would willingly travel on dusty roads 
all day in the hottest weather. When the savage denizens of 
Hochelaga (now Montreal) wanted to go on the war-path, they 
would just stick orange lilies in their hair and marched through 
that village on July 12th. That was all that was necessary. 

The Indian women didn't have a vote, but the men folks 
let them carry everything by acclamation, especially tent 
poles and camp-fixtures, and they never endeavored to deceive 
them by subsequently chewing cloves. In vain Miss Anthony, 
who arrived a little before Cartier, advocated the female 
franchise and dress reform. No doubt the latter was needed, 
as you will see when I roughly sketch the costume then in 
vogue. To show that the absurdity was not confined to one 
sex, I will try to give you an idea also of the costume of the 
young bucks of the Iroquois tribe. [Here an amusing carica 
ture of an Indian dude and dudene was given.] 



Art. Science, Literature, and Commerce. ioj 

The domestic arrangements of the Canadian Indians were, 
as we might reasonably anticipate, no better than those of 
other barbarian people. They were especially faulty, however, 
on the very important subject of marriage. 

In the first place the courtship was peculiar. Sometimes 
the principal parties were not consulted at all. The young 
woman's mamma simply took a fish pole and went abroad to 
catch whatever she could in the shape of a man. No mere 
Indian, however handsome, had any chance while there were 
young lords and counts visiting at Cartier's house. The 
Indian girls were just crazy after blue blood, but sometimes 
they eloped with a low down Indian, because then the papers 
always described them as beautiful and accomplished. There 
is no mention in this early history of divorce proceedings, and 
so we are left in the dark as to how ladies, without talent even, 
became actresses in those days. 

The Indians had two very noticeable vices, gambling and 
cruelty. As to the first it is alleged that in the excitement of 
the game (Stock Exchange or whatever they called it), players 
often staked their lives on the result, whence no doubt is 
derived the phrase : " You bet your sweet life." Their cruelty 
was proverbial, they were the original inventors of the spoils 
system, and after a victory they tortured and scalped their 
captives without any fine distinction as to offensive partisan- 
ship. I am glad to say this is no longer the practice in Canada. 
We now enjoy civil-service reform and the victorious party 
doesn't murder its enemies. It only removes them from 
office. 

To return to Jacques-Cartier, he appears to have been a 



104 New Papers on Canadian History, 

man of great magnetism and chivalry, as he earned the popular 
title of the Plumed Knight amongst the simple and unsophis- 
ticated aborigines. Just here it might be interesting to 
introduce his portrait, which I have copied from historical 
documents discovered in Maine. Maine at that time belonged 
to Canada you know, and does yet by rights, some folks say. 
[Here a portrait of Jas. G. Blaine.] 

Cartier was succeeded by a long train of other French 
gentlemen whose deeds I have not time to dwell upon. At 
length, the country passed into the hands of the British, after 
some preliminary ceremonies on the plains of Abraham, near 
Quebec. You are familiar, of course, with the incidents of that 
memorable battle, and especially with the last words of Wolfe, 
which are so often quoted. Somebody said to him : " They 
run." " Who run ?" he asked. " The Republicans." " Then I 
die happy," he replied. 

I think that was it, if I haven't got it mixed with the third- 
party vote in Pennsylvania in November. 

The British flag was still waving over the land when 1 
left. Attempts have been made on a couple of occasions to 
put a showier piece of bunting in its place, but without success. 
A certain Republic, which shall be nameless, had something to 
do with the attempts I refer to. If you had only told me of 
your intention I could have saved you a great deal of worry 
and expense by informing you that the Canadians cannot be 
conquered by force of arms. I don't blame you for trying 
though, for everybody who knows what Canadian girls are like 
would be anxious to conquer or perish just as you were. It is 
a tribute to American shrewdness, however, that you have 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 105 

dropped the military plan, and resorted to this present scheme. 
I have no doubt your calculation is correct that as soon as the 
absent boodle aldermen and bank presidents form a majority 
of our population over there, they will cast a solid vote for 
annexation on condition of a general amnesty being granted. 
And I have only this to say, that as soon as a clear majority of 
our most wealth}" citizens so decide, annexation will be all 
right. But I see that my time is up, and I must drop this 
interesting theme and bid you good night. 

















f * 



*-V- 




j7 - sfy?^ && /%^ 




THE HEROINES OF NEW FRANCE. 



/. .)/. LEMOIXE, E. R. S. C. 



i An address delivered before the 
I Canadian Club of A'e-u/ York. 



ERTAINLV. your cordial greeting 
this evening overcomes much of the 
diffidence I felt in making my first 
bow to a cultured New York audi- 
ence. However, in your presence, 
I feel as if I required but scant 
apology for my subject : The noble 
devotion to duty of three of the 
remarkable women, whose brave 

deeds have illumined the early times of Canada. 

This evening, I witness what to a Canadian is a very 

gratifying spectacle : an array of Canada's most hopeful sons. 




io8 New Papers on Canadian History. 

striking out boldly and successfully as merchants, manufac- 
turers, professional men, writers, in fact an arrray of energetic 
men invading ever)- important path open to the human intellect 
and human industry in this great metropolis of the western 
world. 

Had I to dilate on the patriotism of De Longueuil ; the 
daring achievements of his worthy brothers d'Iberville and De 
Ste.-Helene ; the self-sacrificing Dollard des Ormeaux and his 
Spartan band of heroes; the saintly memories of Jogues, De 
Brebceuf and L'Alleman ; the lion heartedness of grim old 
Count de Frontenac, answering admiral Phips from the 
mouths of his cannon, as well as of other worthies whose 
careers constitute, according to a well-remembered Vice-Roy 
of ours, Lord Elgin, what he happily styled " the heroic era 
of Canada." easy would be my task, ample the material. 

The pregnant though silent past abounds with grand 
figures in our historical drama ; of men illustrious in life, glo- 
rious in death ! But it is not my purpose to entertain you this 
evening with man's prowess in the early history of Canada. 
My object is to recite to you the plain and unvarnished tale of 
three of the purest, bravest and most devoted women that have 
illustrated the early part of our history, whose heroic deeds 
cast a guiding-hallow in the path of toiling and tottering 
humanity, and to whose spotless record thinking men cannot 
remain indifferent. 

We have had on our side of the frontier, as you have had 
on yours, several noteworthy women, who have left their foot- 
prints on the sands of time. 

One of the first recalled is the helpmate of the dauntless 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. log 

founder of Quebec, Helene Boulle, the girlish-bride won by 
Samuel de Champlain from her gay and refined Parisian home, 
and whose sweetness later on, in 1620, made fragrant Canadian 
wilds. 

On the 5th December, 1610, Champlain was wedded to 
Mademoiselle Helene Boulle, whose father, Nicolas Boulle, was 
private secretary in the King's household. The damsel had 
not yet attained her twelfth year; she had been brought up a 
Calvinist, the faith of her father. Her mother, Marguerite Alixe, 
originally a Roman Catholic, had also espoused her husband's 
creed : but presently we shall see the youthful Helene adopting 
Champlain's religious tenets and becoming, in later years, quite 
an enthusiast in her newly-pledged faith. 

It was soon rumored that the daring founder of Quebec 
had not only won the hand of a handsome, high-born French 
girl, but also the heart of an heiress: 4,500 livres of her dowry 
of 6,000 livres were forthwith placed at the disposal of her 
liege lord to fit out vessels for his return to Quebec. However, 
it does not appear that until her landing in Quebec, the youthful 
bride had seen much of her elderly husband, who was constantly 
engaged about 161 8 in distant sea-voyages, land explorations 
and Indian wars. Champlain spent two years in France, and 
having realized upon all he possessed there, he persuaded his 
spouse, who had then attained her twenty-second year, to accom- 
pany him to Canada. She cheerfully consented, taking with her 
three maids-in-waiting. 

Intense was the joy of the struggling colonists at the return 
of their brave Governor, their trusted and powerful protector; 



no New Papers on Canadian Histc?y, 

great was their admiration of the winsome and lovable wife that 
accompanied him. 

The first lady of Canada very soon realized what meant a 
Quebec home in 1620. It was a life of incessant alarms, with 
scurvy and periodical famines for the colonists ; of gluttony and 
pagan rites, of debauchery on the part of the greasy, naked and 
uncouth savages hutted round the fort. 

Within two years after Madame de Champlain's arrival, a 
large band of Iroquois hovered on the outskirts of Quebec. The 
recollection of the fatal effects of Champlain's arquebuse alone 
deterred them from raiding the town. One day Champlain and 
the greater portion of his men being absent, the war-whoop 
was sounded ; the women and children shut themselves in 
the fort, the Recollet Convent on the banks of the St. Charles 
was assailed. The friars fortified their quarters, and made a 
bold front ; the Iroquois retired after capturing two Hurons, 
whom they tortured and burnt. Judge of the alarm of the 
gentle deserted lady in the fort and of her French maids. 
For four successive winters January storms and prowling Indians 
had gathered round the battlements of the grim old fort, and still 
Madame de Champlain remained firm at her post of duty. 

One of her favorite occupations was that of ministering 
to the spiritual and temporal wants of the Indian children, and 
visiting them in their wigwams. Soon she appeared, in their 
simple and grateful eyes, as a species of superior being ; they 
felt inclined to worship her. History recalls the charms of her 
person, her winning manners, her kindliness. The Governor's 
lady, in her rambles in the forest, wore an article of feminine 
toilet not unusual in those days : a small mirror hung to her 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 1 1 1 

side. The savages took particular delight in seeing their swarthy 
face reflected in the magical glass. It appealed irresistibly 
to their simple nature : " A beauteous being, they said, who 
watched over them in sickness, who loved them so much as to 
carry their image close to her heart, must be more than human." 
Blessings and offerings attended her footsteps. 

The graceful figure of the first lady of Canada gliding 
noiselessly, more than two centuries ago, by the side of the 
murmuring waters of the wild St. Lawrence, a help-mate to her 
noble husband, a pattern of purity and refinement, was indeed a 
vision of female loveliness and womanly devotion for a poet to 
immortalize. 

Daily alarms, solitude, isolation from the friendly faces of 
her youth, soon began to tell on the forlorn chatelaine. Four 
years of existence in this bleak wilderness was too much 
for the high-born dame, nurtured amidst the amenities of 
Parisian salons. She longed for the loved home beyond the 
seas. In her dreams another solitude had been revealed to her : 
the mystic solitude of the cloister, where, undisturbed, she 
might send up her prayers on high for her absent husband. 

One bright August morning in 1624, [the 15th], all Quebec 
sorrowfully watched the sails of a white-pennoned bark, reced- 
ing beyond Pointe Levi, conveying to less lonely climes the 
released captive. . . . 

Nineteen years after the death of her valiant knight, 
Madame de Champlain founded at Meaux, in France, a 
Convent of Ursulines nuns, to which she retired. On the 20th 
December, 1654, her gentle spirit took from thence its flight 
to less evanescent scenes. 



ii2 New Papers on Canadian History, 

\\ shall shift the scene from the old Stadacona's heights 
to the rugged though fertile land to which the magic pencil of 
Longfellow has lent unfading glamour: to Acadia, now Nova 
Scotia. 

More than one hundred years before the forest primeval 
and golden wheat-fields of Grand Pre had echoed the sighs of 
Longfellow's Acadian Maidens, there lived, loved and died on 
the historic shores of the river St. John, at Fort St. Louis, an 
accomplished French lady, known to history as the Lady de 
la Tour. 

Claude de St. Etienne. Sieur de la Tour, was allied to the 
noble French house of Bouillon, but had lost the greater part 
of his estates in the civil wars. He came to Acadia about the 
year [609 with his son Charles, who was then only fifteen years 
of age. 

Charles, after the destruction of Port-Royal by Argall, 
became the fast friend of Biencourt and lived with him, both 
leading a free and easy woodman's life. Biencourt claimed 
important rights in Port-Royal. 

At his death, he bequeathed his claims to the young- 
Huguenot, Charles de la Tour, namingh im his lieutenant and 
successor in the Government of the colony ; he could not have 
selected a bolder, a more enterprising and successful leader. 

In 1625, or thereabout, Charles de la Tour married the 
lady whose adventurous career it is my object to depict. 

Shortly after his marriage he removed to a fort he had 
erected near Cape Sable, which he called Fort St. Louis, and 
which he also intended to make a convenient depot for Indian 
trade. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iij 

About this period the French colonists were becoming 
sensible of the weakness of their settlements in Acadia in case 
of foreign aggression. Claude de la Tour, the father of Charles, 
was sent to France to represent the matter to the French Gov- 
ernment. Returning with ammunition and supplies intended 
for Port- Royal and Quebec, the squadron, in 1628, was captured 
with Roquemont's fleet by Sir David Kirk, and Claude de la 
Tour was sent a prisoner to England. Far from losing heart, 
he seems to have made the most of his captivity to forward his 
own ends. 

A Huguenot of note, he found favor at once among the 
French Huguenots who, exiled from their own sunny land by 
intolerance, had sought an asylum in London. 

The English Monarch sought them as useful allies. 

Claude de la Tour was introduced to Court, fell in love and 
married one of the ladies in waiting of Queen Henrietta Maria, 
the consort of Charles I., and was dubbed a Nova Scotia knight. 
He, as well as his son who then commanded in Acadia, was pro- 
mised a grant of 4,500 square miles in the new Scotch colony 
to be founded there by Sir William Alexander, provided he 
could persuade his son to hand over his fort to the representa- 
tives of the English king. 

The unscrupulous parent, on mentioning to his son the 
price which those flattering distinctions and emoluments were 
to cost, soon found out that something greater than all they 
might represent existed, that was summed up in the word 
" Honor." Charles de la Tour indignantly scorned the parental 
offer. 

Trouble was in store for Charles the moment D'Aulnay 



I! j New Papers on Canadian History, 

Charnisay, Razely's lieutenant, came to Acadia in command of 
another settlement. Charnisay was restless, ambitious, revenge 
ful : " Acadia seemed too small for two such aspiring men.'' 
Soon Charnisay set to work to supplant his rival at the French 
Court, and succeeded through powerful friends. The blow fell 
on De la Tour in 1641 ; his commission as the King's Lieutenant 
was revoked and a vessel sailed from France to earn- back the 
deposed Governor. Encouraged by his spirited wife, Charles 
refused to bend his head to the storm — urging that the 
King's good faith had been surprised. He fortified the fort, 
applied to Boston for help and sent a representative to the 
Huguenots of La Rochelle seeking aid against their great 
enemy, Richelieu. De Charnisay, in the meantime, had gone 
over to France to prosecute his deadly plans of revenge against 
De la Tour, and he heard of the arrival of the Lady De la 
Tour, whose influence he dreaded very much. He at once pro- 
cured an order for her arrest, as being an accomplice in her 
husband's treason. She fled to England and succeeded in 
chartering a ship in London, which she freighted with provis- 
ions and munitions of war to relieve her husband at Fort La 
Tour. Instead of steering straight for the Fort, the English 
captain spent several months trading on the coast for his own 
account. De Charnisay had not remained idle in the mean- 
while. On returning he laid watch and succeeded in inter- 
cepting the ship ; the master had to conceal in the hold his 
daring passenger, the Lady De la Tour, pretending his vessel 
was bound for Boston. De Charnisay then gave him a message 
to deliver to the Boston authorities and he reached there a few 
days after. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 115 

This change of itinerary, added to the untoward delay 
which had already occurred, was a grievous loss and incon- 
venience to the Lady De la Tour. She brought suit in Boston 
against the English captain on the charter-party for dam 
which were awarded to her to the extent of .£2,000 by a full 
bench of magistrates. She seized the cargo of the ship and 
hired three vessels to convey herself and property to Fort La 
Tour, where she arrived in 1644, to the great joy of her hus- 
band, after an absence of more than twelve months. 

De Charnisay, after storming at Governor Endicot and the 
Boston people generally, for having given help to Lady De la 
Tour, took advantage of the absence of Governor De la Toui 
from his fort to attack it fiercely, after having first apprised 
himself of its weak condition. The garrison, 'tis true, was 
small, but there was at its head an indomitable spirit worth a 
whole garrison, the Lady De la Tour. She stationed herself 
on the bastion, directing the cannonade and infusing into the 
combatants her own heroic spirit. Soon she had the satisfac- 
tion of seeing De Charnisay's ship making cover behind a point 
to prevent her sinking, and twenty of the besiegers laying dead 
and thirteen wounded. This repulse took place in February, 
1645. 

De Charnisay's last attack on Fort La Tour occurred on 
the 13th April, 1645. This time the attack was directed from 
the land side. Unfortunately, the fort was in no better condi- 
tion than on former occasions to make an attack ; moreover, 
De la Tour was absent and in Boston, unable to reach the 
fort, owing to the armed cruisers with which De Charnisay 
patroled the Bay of Fundy. The Lady De la Tour, though 



Ii6 New Papers on Canadian History, 

despairing of making a successful resistance, resolved to 
defend the fort to the last.* For three successive days and 
nights the storming continued, but the defence was so well 
managed that the besiegers made no progress and De Char- 
nisay was compelled to retire with loss. 

Treachery, however, finally achieved what valor had failed 
to effect. Charnisay found means to bribe a Swiss sentry who 
formed part of the garrison, and on the fourth day, an Easter 
Sunday, while the garrison were at prayers, this traitor per- 
mitted the enemy to approach without giving any warning. 
They were in the act of scaling the walls before the inmates of 
the fort were aware of their attack. Lady De la Tour instantly 
rushed out at the head of her soldiers and fought the besiegers 
with so much vigor that Charnisay, who had already lost twelve 
men besides many wounded, despaired of the success of his 
undertaking. He therefore proposed terms of capitulation, 
offering the garrison life and liberty if they consented to sur- 
render. Lady De la Tour, persuaded that successful resistance 
was no longer possible and desirous of saving the lives of those 
under her command, accepted the terms offered by Charnisay 
and allowed him to enter the fort .... 

It was then that the full baseness of Charnisay 's nature 
was revealed. With the exception of one man, he ordered the 

* Madame De la Tour's career is the subject of one of John Greenleaf 
Whittier's sweetest poems, entitled : Saint /o/in, 164J. The noble con- 
duct of her husband in refusing to surrender to his father's sollicitations, 
for the English king, the French fort he held, was immortalized in verse by 
the late Gerin-Lajoie, one of our leading writers, in a drama, entitled : Le 
J tune La tour. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. i/y 

whole garrison, French as well as English, to be hanged ; the 
one life he spared was on the dreadful condition that he should 
become the executioner of his comrades in arms. Even the 
slaughter of these poor soldiers failed to satisfy his blood- 
thirsty instincts. Had he dared, he would doubtless ha*ve had 
Lady De la Tour assassinated with the rest ; but the Court of 
France, venal though it was, might not have tolerated such an 
outrage. Charnisay did what was almost as contemptible ; the 
heroic woman, with a rope around her neck, like one who 
should also have been executed, but who by favor had been 
reprieved, was forced to be present at the execution of her 
soldiers. It mattered nought to her what further schemes of 
vengeance her implacable foe might devise. None could move 
her, her great heart was broken. She was far away from her 
husband, to whose fortunes she had been so faithful ; she dared 
scarcely hope to see his face again, except, like herself, a cap- 
tive. Her work in life was done ; she felt she was not born for 
captivity, so she faded away and drooped day by day, until 
her heroic soul left its earthy tenement. Within three weeks 
after the capture of the fort she was laid to rest on the green 
banks of the St. Johns River, which she had loved so well, and 
where she had lived for so many years, " leaving a name as 
proudly enshrined in Acadian history," says the historian, "as 
that of any sceptered Queen in European history." 

Let us now review one of those energetic characters which 
marked one of the proudest epochs in Canadian history : The 
era of Frontenac. 

You have all heard of the dashing French regiment of 
Carignan, commanded by Colonel de Salieres, which the Grand 



Ii8 New Papers on Canadian History, 

Monarque, Louis XIV., in 1664, had given his haughty Vice- 
Roy, the Marquis de Tracy, as an escort to Quebec. It was 
officered by sixty or seventy French gentlemen, many of whom 
were connected with the French noblesse. Four companies, 
some six hundred men, were disbanded shortly after their 
arrival in New France. The officers and privates were induced, 
by land grants, supplies of cattle and other marks of royal 
favor to marry and settle in the New World. Many of them 
acquiesced and became the respected sires of the leading French 
families in after years. Among them De Chambly, Sorel, Du 
Gue, La Valtrie, Vercheres, Berthier, Granville, Contrecoeur, 
De Meloises, Tarieu de la Perade, Saint-Ours, De la Fouille, 
Maximin, Lobeau, Petit, Rougemont, Traversy, De la Nouette, 
Lacombe and others, worthy comrades in arms of De Lon- 
gueuil, dTberville, and de Ste-Helene. 

One of them, M. de Vercheres, obtained in 1672, on the 
banks of the St. Lawrence, near Montreal, where now stands 
the flourishing parish of Vercheres, a land-grant, of three miles 
square, which the King materially increased in extent the 
following year. 

In those troublesome times, the seigneur's house meant a 
small fort, to stave off Indian aggression. " These forts," 
says the historian Charlevoix, "were merely extensive enclosures, 
surrounded by palisades and redoubts. The church and the 
dwelling of the seigneur were within the enclosure, which was 
sufficiently large to admit, on an emergency, the women and 
children, and the farm-cattle ; one or two sentries mounted 
guard by day and by night ; with small field pieces, they kept in 
check the skulking enemy and served to warn the settlers to 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. I ig 

arm and hasten to the rescue. These precautions were sufficient 
to guard against a raid," but not in all cases as we shall soon 
see. 

Taking advantage of the absence of M. de Vercheres, the 
ever-watchful Iroquois drew stealthily around the little fort and 
took to climbing over the palisades. On hearing which, Marie- 
Madeleine de Vercheres, the youthful daughter of the seigneur, 
seized a musket and fired it. The marauders alarmed, 
slunk away, but on finding that they were not pursued, they 
returned and spent two days hovering like wolves around the 
fort, however not daring to enter, as ever and anon a bullet 
would reach the man who first attempted an escalade. What 
increased their surprise, was that they could detect inside no 
living creature except a woman ; but this female was so active, 
so fearless, so ubiquitous, that she seemed to be everywhere at 
once. Nor did her unerring fire cease, so long as there was an 
enemy in sight. The dauntless holder of the fort Vercheres 
was Mile de Vercheres, then in her twelfth year. This hap- 
pened in 1690. 

Two years later, the Iroquois returned in larger force, 
having chosen the time of the year when the settlers were 
engaged in the fields, tilling the soil, to pounce upon them. 
Mile de Vercheres, then aged fourteen, happened to be saun- 
tering on the river bank. Noticing a savage aiming at her, she 
eluded his murderous intent by rushing homeward at the top 
of her speed ; but for swiftness of foot the Indian was her 
match, terror added wings to her flight. With tomahawk up- 
raised, he gradually gained upon her, and was in fact rapidly 
closing as they neared the fort, another bound and she might 



120 New Papers on Canadian History, 

be beyond his reach. Straining every nerve, the Indian sprang 
and seized the kerchief which covered her throat. Rapid as 
thought, and whilst the exulting savage raised his arm to strike 
the fatal blow, Mademoiselle tore asunder the knot which 
fastened her kerchief, and, bounding within the fort like a 
gazelle, closed the door against her pursuer. 

" To arms ! To arms ! ! " Without heeding the groans of the 
inmates, who could see from the fort their husbands and 
brothers carried away as prisoners, she rushed to the bastion, 
where stood the solitary sentry, seized a musket and a soldier's 
cap, and ordered a great clatter of guns, so as to make believe 
the fort was fully manned. She next loaded a small field-piece, 
and not having a wad at hand, thrust in a towel instead, and 
discharged the piece at the enemy. This unexpected rebuff, 
struck terror in the marauders, who saw their warriors one after 
the other grievously hit. Thus armed and with but the aid of 
one soldier only, she continued the fire. Presently the alarm 
reached the neighborhood of Montreal, when an intrepid officer, 
the Chevalier de Crisasi, brother to the Marquis of Crisasi, then 
Governor of Three Rivers, rushed to Vercheres at the head of a 
chosen band of men ; but the savages had made good their 
retreat with three prisoners. After a three days pursuit, the 
Chevalier found them with their captives strongly intrenched in 
the woods on the borders of Lake Champlain. The French 
officer completely routed the murderous crew — cut them to 
pieces only a few who escaped. The prisoners were released, 
all New France resounded with the fame of Mile de Vercheres 
who was awarded the title of heroine. 

Another instance of heroism on her part, added fame to her 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 121 

reputation for courage. A French commander, M. de La Nau- 
diere de la Perade, was pursuing the Iroquois, some writers say 
in the neighborhood of the river Richelieu, according to others 
in the vicinity of the river Ste.-Anne, when there sprang, 
unexpectedly, out of the underbrush, a swarm of the implacable 
foes. Taken unaware M. de la Perade was just on the point of 
falling a victim to their ambush when Mile de Vercheres, 
seizing a musket, rushed on the enemy at the head of some 
resolute men and succeeded in saving him from the Indian toma- 
hawk. She had achieved a conquest, or better she became the 
conquest of M. de la Perade, whose life she saved. Henceforth, 
in history, the heroine de Vercheres will be known as Madame 
de la Perade, the wife of an influential seigneur. 

The fame of the heroine reached the banks of the Seine, 
and Louis XIV. instructed his Vice-Roy in New France to 
call upon her in person and procure her version of her 
courageous deeds. The simple statement pleased the French 
Monarch very much. 

It was my intention to close the career of the Heroine of 
Vercheres with this last episode, but on the eve of my leaving 
for New York, an antiquarian friend, a lineal descendant also of 
this noble woman, the Hon. Justice George Baby, of the Court 
of Appeals, placed in my hand an unpublished memoir revealing 
Madame de la Perade, as possessing the uncommon courage and 
presence of mind you have just admired, not merely in the 
spring-tide of her existence, but retaining it as well in the 
autumn of life. 

This document, aside of its historical value, gives interest- 
ing glimpses of the vicissitudes of the daily life of the Canadian 



122 New Papers on Canadian History, 

seigneurs in those time. Possibly you will forgive me for 
trespassing on your indulgence a few moments longer, to give 
you in English a few extracts. " Many years," says the 
Memoir,* " after Mile de Vercheres' marriage to M. Tarieu de 
la Naudiere, Sieur de la Perade, she was instrumental in saving 
his life a second time. The Iroquois, true to their sanguinary 
instincts and to their deadly hatred of the French, never pad- 
dled past Ste.-Anne de la Perade without leaving there some 
trace of their hatred. About sunset, one mellow September 
afternoon, either believing that M. de la Perade was absent and 
that they had a chance to surprise the settlement, they landed. 
The seignorial manor stood apart from other dwellings, a short 
distance from the river, secluded from public gaze by a thick- 
growth of forest trees. Madame de la Perade's aged husband 
was confined to his bed grievously ill. Except his wife and a 
young maid servant sixteen years of age, no other inmates were 
inside. 

"The marauding Indians suddenly, landed from their 
canoes which the rushes hid from view. One party marched 



*This narrative, adds Judge Baby, I had from my aged aunt, Mile 
Marguerite de La Naudiere, a granddaughter of the heroine, who expired at 
Quebec on the 17th of November, 1856, at the age of 81 years. 

The venerable Mile de La Naudiere was for years in Quebec a kind 
of landmark between the past and the present. Her memory, conversational 
powers and repartees, made her sought after by the highest in the land ; 
her dignified and courteous manners reminded one of the old school. 
More than once our Governors General and their families called on her, in 
her St.-Louis Street mansion ; among others, the Earl of Elgin, Sir Edmund 
Walker Head, Lord Monck. After his departure, Lord Elgin, kept up with 
her a friendly correspondence until her death. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 123 

towards the house, whilst another crouched behind the trees 
waiting for a signal. 

" A glimpse at the savages revealed to Madame de la 
Perade what fate awaited her and her husband. She forthwith 
bolted and barricaded the front door as best she could, coolly- 
directing her maid to fetch the only two fire-arms left by the 
absent farm hands, she determined to face the foe, and if possible- 
keep them outside. 

" The leader of the band and his blood-thirsty crew, had 
scarcely ascended the wide flight of steps which led to the 
front door of the manor, when she, without even allowing him to 
speak, addressed him in his own dialect and in a firm voice 
asked what he wanted. 

" The chief, taken aback at hearing a white woman speak his 
language, replied, in a subdued tone, that he wished to confer 
with M. de la Perade— that he was the bearer of an important 
message, stating that he and his friends knew enough of the 
hospitality of M. de la Perade to warrant their visit to his house 
and to expect meat and drink as well ; chat they were hungry and 
thirsty, adding also that a little fire -water would be acceptable. 

•' Madame de la Perade, without exhibiting the slightest 
fear, replied that her husband was engaged, could not see them 
told them to leave. 

"The chief, convinced that he had merely to deal with a 
lone woman, exchanged in a whisper a few words with his 
followers ; then, raising his tone, insolently answered that if the 
door was not instantly thrown open, that they would soon 
find a way to enter. 

" Well did Madame de la Perade know the treatment which 



124 New Papers on Canadian History, 

awaited her, should the Indians enter. Her husband lay help- 
lessly ill, within hearing of all this. Something had to be done, 
and that instantly. Sending up to heaven a prayer for help, 
she felt stronger, and, undaunted, spoke as follows : ' The door 
shall remain closed, and if you refuse to go, I shall find means 
to compel you.' 

" The savages used their utmost strength in order to break 
in ; in those days the door of a Canadian manor required to be 
strong, as you may be sure. 

" Baffled, the Indians rushed down the steps, uttering their 
terrible war-whoop. Then crowding abreast a window, through 
which they felt sure to find a passage, they poured in a volley of 
shot and bullets which went crashing through the sash and 
lodged in the wainscot and rafters. 

"Quick as lightning, Madame de la Perade fired on the 
murderous redskins, first one gun, then another. Astonished 
by this vigorous reception, the marauders wavered, shrank back, 
and finally retreated bearing one of their comrades wounded 
in the leg. Instantly reloading, Madame de la Perade, had 
just time, under the gathering shadows of evening, to give the 
retreating horde another volley. One of those panics common 
to Indians seems to have occurred ; and fancying the place was 
protected they ran to their canoes. 

" The brave woman's trials were only half over, for at this 
moment, her young maid came rushing to her, saying: 'The 
roof is on fire!' Parthian like, in their retreat, the Iroquois, 
had directed flaming arrows towards the old peaked moss- 
covered gable. How could her sick husband escape the flames? 
Even if she should succeed in carrying him beyond their reach, 



Art % Science, Literature, and Commerce* 125 

were not the Indians lurking in the neighboring woods and 
watching for a chance to pounce upon them? 

She was not yet aware that the defeated savages were 
retreating in their canoes from an imaginary pursuing foe. 
Her first impulse was to ascend to the burning roof with her 
maid and pour water on the flames ; her next thought was to 
rush through the smoke and fire to the apartment where M. 
de la Perade lay, and implore him to rise and save .himself. 
But all in vain, he was too enfeebled. Thanking his devoted wit ;, 
he replied that it seemed as if it were the will of God he should 
die then. 'Adieu! Adieu! my kind and true friend,' said he. 'twice 
under God's dispensation your heroism has saved me from the 
Indian tomahawk. To-day, God calls me ! I am ready. Adieu.' 

" Madame de la Perade, momentarily crushed by this har- 
rowing scene, suddenly felt herself endowed with a supernatural 
fortitude, and, seizing her sick husband in her arms she carried 
him out, deposited him on the grass, and then, physically and 
mentally exhausted fell insensible by his side. 

The evening was calm and the fire smouldered slowly on 
the house-top. Soon a shower which had been threatening, 
broke, and in a measure put out the fire whose reflection had 
attracted the tenantry- who came to the rescue. - ' 

The heroine of Vercheres expired at Ste.-Anne, on the 
;th August, 1737. 

Have these remarkable careers no lessons ? In Madame de 
Champlain, we have a lady of noble birth, youth and beauty : a 
life pure and gentle, and kindliness combined to such a degree 
as to make the possessor appear " more than human " to those 
among whom fate had cast her. 



126 New Papers on Canadian History, 

Madame de la Tour exhibits a sterner, more Spartan 
spirit, ready at all times to confront war contumely, adversity 
in its direst form ; a model of sweet, womanly devotion to her 
husband and of self-sacrifice to duty. 

In Mile de Vercheres, you have to admire the warm blood 
of youth blending with the cool courage of maturer years ; the 
masculine daring of the sterner portion of humanity pulsating 
through a heart of fourteen summers, and gathering strength 
with the weight of years. 

Allow me to close my remarks with the sentiment 
expressed in my opening : May Providence, in its clemency, 
continue to send us more of those true, tender and brave 
spirits, beacons from on high, to light up the rugged path of 
erring, mortal man ! 



Works on Canadian History consulted : — 

Histoire de la Colorize Francaise en Canada. — Faili.OU, Vol. I, 
pp. 17, 185, 252. 

Cours d' Histoire dn Canada. — Ferland, Vol. I, p. 234. 

First Conquest of Canada. — KlRKE, p. 69. 

Relations des Jisuites. 

Chroniques des Ursulines de Meaux. — JOURNAL DE Quebec, 1854. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. I2j 

History of Nova Scotia. — Beamish Murdoch. 
History of Acadia.— }. CAVENAY. 

Histoire des Grandes Families Francoises du Canada. — Daniel. 
Histoirc du Canada. — CHARLEVOIX, Vol. Ill, pp. 124, 125. 
Histoire du Canada. — Bib AU D pere. 
Pantheon Canadien. — BlBAVTt j'eune, p. 295. 

Histoirc dc /' ' Ame'riquc Septentrionalc. — BAQUEVILLE DE LA 
POTHERNE. 

ttimoires et Lcttrcs defamille. — Hon. Judge Geo. Baby. 





i 



w im^ 



§ 




LITERATURE IN CANADA. 



GEO. STE WA R T, Jr. , 
D. C. L., F. R. C. S., F. R. S. C. 



Read before the Canadian Chid 
of New York. 



EING deeply sensible of the honor 
which the Canadian Club has paid 
me this evening, in asking me to be 
its guest, I beg of you to accept in 
return my heart-felt thanks. I thank 
you also for the very flattering invi- 
tation which has been given me to 
address you on a subject, in which all 
Canadians must, I am sure, take a 
warm and appreciative interest. To have my name inscribed 
on your list of guests, is an honor which I need not assure 
you, I value most highly. The Canadian Club of New York, 




ijo New Papers on Canadian History, 

is an institution of which we Canadians feel justly proud, 
because we know that it is a credit to our countrymen 
in every way, that it is continually extending and broadeninr 
its influence and importance, and that its roll of mem- 
bership represents all that is best in the political, social and 
commercial activity of Canada's sons in the great American 
metropolis. But admirable as its character for hospitality 
unquestionably is, the Club is more than a means for supplying 
a place of pleasant resort for resident and visiting Canadians 
in New York. It is an educator, in a certain sense, and the 
present series of literary and social entertainments, will do 
much to stimulate Canadian sentiment, patriotism and aspira- 
tion. The pleasure of these meetings too, is materially 
heightened by the happy manner in which your Committee 
considers the claims of that element in our population which 
is always fair and gentle, and to whose refining influences 
the sterner sex owes so much. With such sharers of your 
exile from your native land, as I see before me to-night, 
radiant and charming as they all are, I am forced to the 
conclusion that your self-imposed banishment cannot be so 
very hard to bear after all. You do right, Mr. President, in 
opening your splendid rooms to the ladies on occasions like 
the present one, and it is an example which I think ought to 
be followed, and no doubt will be, by other clubs. 

But, you have asked me to address you a few words on 
the subject of literature in Canada. As you are aware, ladies 
and gentlemen, Canadian authorship is still in its infancy. The 
plough has proved a mightier engine than the pen, and author- 
ship has been followed feebly and precariously by men and 



Art Science, Literature, and Commerce. iji 

women, who have never lost heart in their work, but 
whose labors have been rewarded in too many instances, I 
fear, by those soft words, which, however sweet to the ear, 
fail entirely to butter our parsnips. No one has been able, 
in Canada, to make the writing of books his sole means 
of living. We have had to write our books under our breath, 
as it may be said, and the marvel is that we have been able to 
produce, under such depressing circumstances, so many works 
of even respectable merit. The Canadian author is either a 
professional or a business man, and his literary work- 
must be done, almost as an accomplishment, during the leisure 
moments which may be snatched from the exacting occupa- 
tions of real life. Of course, authorship prosecuted under such 
disadvantages, must suffer, but notwithstanding many draw- 
backs, the mental output of the Dominion is not inconsiderable. 
At the recent Indian and Colonial Exhibition, in London, no 
fewer than 3,000 volumes, all by native authors, were shown in 
the library of the Canadian section, and this exhibit, as you 
know, by no means exhausts the list of books actually written 
by Canadians, during a century of time. The collection repre- 
sented Canadian authorship in every department of its literature, 
science, history and poetry being especially large and note- 
worthy, while the other branches were not neglected. 

Territorially, our country is extensive, and our literary 
sons and daughters are to be encountered, now, from British 
Columbia to Cape Breton, doing work which is good, and some 
of it destined to stand. Frechette, the laureate of the 
French Academy, not long ago, said, " Be Canadians and the 
future is yours." " That which strikes us most in your poems," 



ij2 New Papers on Canadian History, 

said one of the Forty Immortals to the poet, " is that the 
modern style, the Parisian style of your verses is united to 
something strange, so particular and singular it seems an 
exotic, disengaged from the entire work." This perfume of 
originality which this author discovered was at that time 
unknown to Frechette. What was it ? It was the secret of 
their nationality, the certificate of their origin, their Canadian 
stamp. And it is important never to allow this character to 
disappear. There is much in this. Our country is full of 
history, full of character, full of something to be met with 
nowhere else in the world. A mine of literary wealth is to be 
had in every section of the dominion, and it only awaits the 
hand of the craftsman. Bret Harte opened up a new phase of 
American character as he discovered it in wild California. Miss 
Murfree found the Tennessee mountains rich in incident and 
strong in episodes of an intensely dramatic color, and Mr. 
Cable developed in a brilliant and picturesque way life and 
movement among the Creoles of the South. Have we no 
Canadian authors among us, who can do as much for us? 
Lesperance, it is true, has dealt with one period of our history, 
in a captivating way. Kirby has told the story of " The Golden 
Dog " with fine and alert sympathies. Miss Macfarlane's " Chil- 
dren of the Earth " depends on Nova Scotia for its scenic 
effects. Marmette has presented, with some power, half a 
dozen romances of the French regime, while Frechette has 
dramatized the story of Papineau's rebellion. 

But Canada is full of incident and romance, and the poet and 
novelist have fruitful themes enough on which to build many a 
fanciful poem and story. In history, we have much good writ- 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ijj 

ing, and I trust you will permit me to say, that I think our young 
historians would do well not to attempt to do too much. 
I would advise them to deal with periods rather than to write 
complete histories of the whole country. Mr. John Charles 
Dent has been most successful on two occasions, giving us the 
history of old Canada, from the Union of 1 841 to the present 
time, and following up his labors with the " Story of the Upper 
Canadian Rebellion." Mr. Edmund Collins has written of 
Canada under Lord Lome's administration, and in the Life 
and Times of Sir John A. Macdonaid he has discussed, with 
considerable independence, Canada's political and economical 
progress during a burning period of our history. The Abbes 
Casgrain and Faillon, Judge Gray, Mr. Globensky, Mr. Tur- 
cotte, Mr. George E. Fenety and Mr. de Gasp£ have also dealt 
with epochs, and so have Messrs. David, Carrier, Bryce and 
Adam. 

In works relating to parliamentary procedure and prac- 
tice, we have the notable contributions' of Alpheus Todd, 
John George Bourinot and Joseph Doutre. And in books of 
purely antiquarian character, we have the investigations of 
Scadding, Haw kins, Lemoine and Lawrence, while our annals, 
from day to day, have found an industrious exponent in Mr. 
Henry J. Morgan. Our larger historians are chiefly Ferland, 
Faillon, Garneau, Withrow, Campbell, Suite, Beamish Murdoch 
and McMullen. In biography we have the names of Fennings 
Taylor, Alexander MacKenzie, Charles Lindsey, P. B. Casgrain 
and William Rattray. In poetry we have a good showing, but 
I need scarcely name more than Reade, Roberts, Mair, Murray, 
Heavysege, Miss Machar, Mrs. Harrison (" Seranus ") among 



/JY New Papers on Canadian History, 

the English ; and Cremazie, Frechette, Le May, Legendre and 
Routhier among the French. The list would not be complete 
were I to omit a few of our essayists and writers on special 
topics, such as Col. G. T. Denison, whose history of Cavalry 
won the great Russian prize, Principal Grant, Chauveau, 
Le Sueur, Samuel Dawson, Oxley, Jack, Griffin, Ellis, Faucher 
de St. Maurice, Harper and George Murray. To studies on 
political economy and finance we have contributed no promi- 
nent names as writers of treatises on those subjects, but George 
Hague and the late Charles F. Smithers of Montreal have 
presented the banking side of the argument, in sound, practical 
papers of great value. In almost every department of scientific 
investigation and thought we have an array of men of whom 
any country might be proud, some of them having a fame 
which is world-wide. Briefly, I may mention a few of these, 
such as the Dawsons, father and son, Drs. Wilson, Hunt, 
Hamel, Selwyn, Bell, Laflamme, Lawson, MacGregor, Bailey, 
and Messrs. Sandford Fleming, Matthews, Murdoch, Carpmael, 
Johnson, Hoffman, Bayne and Macfarlane. Of course, this 
list, by no means, includes all. 

The education of the French Canadian is much more 
literaiy than scientific. His taste for letters is cultivated at 
quite an early age, and oratory, belles-lettres and the classics 
form by far the stronger part of his mental outfit on leaving 
college. Higher thought and scientific research have few 
charms for him which he cannot withstand, and he turns, with 
passion almost, to poetry, romance, light philosophy and 
history. He is an insatiable reader, but his taste is circum- 
scribed and narrowed, and following the bent of his inclinations, 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 135 

he eschews all the troublesome paradoxes of literature, avoids 
speculative authors, and reads with delight and appreciation 
the books which furnish him with the most amusement. He 
seeks recreation in his reading matter, and, sympathizing with 
Emerson, though he scarcely knows a line of that author, he 
makes it a point to read only the books which please him the 
best. He likes clever verses and a good novel, and as the 
printing-press of France furnishes exemplars of these in 
abundance, he is never put to straits for supplies. Naturally 
enough, when the French Canadian attempts authorship, he 
writes poetry, romances, ckroniques and history. The latter he 
does very well, and exhibits industry and skill in the arrange- 
ment of his materials and the grouping of his facts. His work- 
rarely fails in artistic merit, and its strength lies in the easy 
flow and elegance of its diction, and the spirit in which the 
author approaches his subject. Quebec's list of poets is a long 
one. Almost every fairly-educated young man can, at will, 
produce a copy of well-turned verse, but fortunately all do not 
exercise their power, nor do those who print poems in the 
newspapers always make volumes of their lays afterwards. 
Strange to say, Quebec is singularly badly-off for female poets. 
I know of but one or two ladies who have courted the muses 
and printed their verses. We must not forget, however, that 
a poem is often emphasized in the tying of a ribbon, in the 
arrangement of the hair, and in the fashioning of a bow, and it 
would be unfair to describe Quebec's young women as unpoeti- 
cal merely because they have not seen fit to put their 
thoughts into song. There are many male poets in the 
province, but it will be unnecessary to concern ourselves, at 



rj6 New Papers on Canadian History^ 

this time, with more than half a dozen of the better-known 
ones. These are Cremazie. Frechette. Le May, Garneau, 
Routiner and Suite, each distinct from the other, in style, 
touch and motive; Joseph Octave Cremazie deserves, perhaps, 
the special title of national poet of French Canada, but Louis 
llcnorc Frechette, whose versatility and fancy rise to great 
heights, is not far below him. There are few prominent 
novelists, as 1 have said, oi either French or English origin. 
The name of James de Mille, a New-Brunswicker, stands out 
prominently, but his fiction is little tinctured with the Cana- 
dian flavor. Among the French, we have only Chauveau, 
Marmette, Bourassa and Le May. 

Literature in Canada, owe- much to the various literary 
and historial societies, which exist in nearly all the chief 
towns of the Dominion. The parent of them all is the 
old Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, which was 
founded in 1824, by the Karl of Dalhousie, then Governor- 
General. This institution owns many rare manuscripts and 
printed books, relating to the early history of the country, and 
every year its treasures arc explored and investigated by 
historians and enquirers from all parts of the Continent. The 
Society has published sonic valuable memoirs, transactions 
and manuscripts in French and in English, and these are held 
in high repute by scholars everywhere. In Montreal. Toronto. 
Halifax, St. John. N. B., and Winnipeg, similar societies enjoy 
a flourishing and useful existence. Four years ago. the 
Marquis of Lome, founded the Royal Society oi Canada. The 
membership was limited to eight)- men. and the objects of the 
society may be thus described : firstly, to encourage studies and 



Art, Science i Literature, and Commerce. ijy 

investigations in literature and science; secondly, to publish 
transactions containing the minutes of proceedings at meetings, 
records of the work performed, original papers and memoirs of 
merit, and such other documents as might be deemed worthy 
of publication ; thirdly, to offer prizes or other inducements for 
valuable papers on subjects relating to Canada, and to aid 
researches already begun and carried so far as to render their 
ultimate value probable ; fourthly, to assist in the collection of 
specimens, with a view to the formation of a Canadian Museum 
of Archives, Ethnology, Archaeology and Natural History. 
The society is divided into four sections; I. — French Litera- 
ture, with history, archaeology and allied subjects ; 2. — 
English Literature with history, archaeology and allied 
subjects; 3. — Mathematical, chemical and physical sciences; 
4. — Geological and biological sciences. The sections meet 
separately for the reading and discussion of papers, or other 
business, during the annual session of the society, which has so 
far assembled at Ottawa in the month of May. These 
meetings have been most successful, in point of attendance 
and work actually performed, and the usefulness of the society 
has been greatly extended by its catholicity and liberality 
towards kindred institutions, almost every one of which, in 
Canada, has been invited annually to send delegates to the 
Royal. These representatives have the privilege of taking part 
in all general or sectional meetings for reading and discussing 
papers. They may also communicate a statement of original 
work done, and papers published during the year by their own 
societies, and may report on any matters which the Royal 
Society may usefully aid in publication or otherwise. The 



rj8 New Papers on Canadian History, 

Dominion Government aids the Royal Society by an annual 
grant of §5,000, which is set aside for the publication of the 
transactions and proceedings. Thus far, four large volumes 
have been published, and a glance at their contents affords 
convincing testimony of the value ' of the work which the 
society is doing. Its weak point, doubtless, rests in the literary 
sections. But even those departments may be made valuable and 
eminently useful in time. In archaeology, history and ethnology 
the field is wide, and it is satisfactory to note that the two first 
sections are already devoting their energies to their special line 
of work with vigor and zeal. In one branch of study, in particu- 
lar, that of ethnology, the Royal Society has an important duty 
to perform. The Indian population is fast disappearing. In a 
few years, the characteristics of the red races will be wholly 
lost. It is necessary to preserve these, while the tribes remain, 
and this work is being done by the second section of the Royal 
Society, and it is a work which possesses a value that cannot 
be over estimated. Of course, in historical research, and in 
archaeological investigation, the extent of the society's labors 
is practically unlimited. Royal societies, with similar objects 
in view, exist in various quarters of the globe. Canada surely, 
is old enough and advanced enough to have one also. 

In a paper such as this, some reference should be made to 
the really admirable Department of Archives, which is main- 
tained by the Dominion Government at Ottawa. It is under 
the charge of that competent and zealous officer, Mr. Douglas 
Brymner, whose tastes and training well fit him for the duties 
of his office. He has really created the department and made 
it one of the most efficient in the public service of Canada. 



. //-/, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ijg 

Fifteen years ago the historical records of Canada had scarcely 
an abiding place. We had no regular system by which letl 
pamphlets, printed books and documents and manuscripts 
relating to the commercial, literary and political activity of the 
country could be preserved, and rendered accessible to the 
student. Thousands of valuable papers were in imminent 
danger of being lost ; many undoubtedly did perish. In 
1 87 1, a number of literary men of Canada, petitioned the 
legislature to organize a branch of the public service by means 
of which historical data might be preserved. Parliament 
promptly acceded to this request, and the Minister of 
culture added the Archives branch to his department. Mr. 
Brymner was placed in charge, and he began his wcrk of 
collecting absolutely ab ovo, not a single document of an}- sort 
being in hand when he commenced. To-day, the shelves of the 
Department contain upwards of seven thousand volumes of 
historical papers on every conceivable subject of interest to 
Canadians. The work of indexing these enormous collections 
goes on daily, and fresh matter is constantly being added. Mr. 
Brymner's aim being to make the Archives truly national in 
every respect and as complete as possible. 

Much has been written about the law of copyright. Canada 
passed a fairly good act in 1875, Dut as •* contravened the 
Imperial statute, it was not long before the authorities in 
London declared the act ultra vires, and our publishers have 
been in a most unhappy frame of mind ever since. In a word, 
the business of publishing books in Canada is at a pretty low 
ebb, and publishers find little encouragement in extending 
their trade. The Canadian author is not so badly off, just now. 



140 New Papers on Canadian History, 

Under the old British act, a very good rule only worked one 
way. Thus, the English author who copyrighted his book in 
England was fully protected in every colony flying the British 
flag. The Canadian or Australian author, however, could only 
obtain copyright in the colony or province where his book was 
published. The other day, an amendment was made to the 
act by the Imperial Parliament, and by its terms, any work 
published in the Queen's dominions is fully protected all over 
the vast empire. The various colonial governments were 
communicated with on the subject, and all but New South 
Wales replied favorably. That far-off dependency remains to 
be heard from. Meanwhile, the act was passed, and for the 
benefit of New South Wales a clause was inserted exempting 
any colony from the operation of the measure, should it prefer 
to keep to the old order of things. 

And, just here, is a good place to ask, do Canadians read 
the productions of their own authors? What encouragement 
do they give the writers of Canadian books? It is a fact that 
Canada cannot support a really first-class magazine. The 
experiment of magazine publishing has been tried in all the 
chief cities of the Dominion, but it has failed in every instance, 
though the trial has been made honestly and at considerable 
sacrifice on the part of the promoters of the enterprise. Every 
now and then we hear the question : Why does Canada not 
have a magazine ? The Canadians read magazines, and pa)' for 
them. This is true ; but it is also true that they want the best. 
Their standard is high, and unless the publisher can supply a 
publication which can compete with the important old world 
and United States serials, they will not have it, no matter how 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iji 

patriotic they may suppose themselves to be. Of course, the 
day is coming when Canada will have its great monthly and 
still greater quarterly, but the time is not yet ripe. In the 
meantime, the question which presses for solution is, what are 
we doing, in a helpful way, for our own authors in the 
Dominion ? Are we encouraging them to write and publish ? 
We know that men like Dr. Daniel Wilson, Prof. Clark Murray 
and Mr. Grant Allen, and some others who could be named, 
never think of publishing their books in Canada. They have 
something to say, and expression to their views is always given 
in the largest possible field. They find it to their advantage- 
to publish in England or in the United States. Small editions 
of their books are sometimes sold to Canadian booksellers, 
either in sheets, or bound up within cloth covers, but the copies 
so disposed of, yield scarcely a tithe of the remuneration which 
reaches the successful author, from the sale of his books in the 
great markets in which they first see the light. The Canadian 
author cannot be blamed for making the most of his opportu- 
nities, in this way. The market in Canada is limited, and, as 
a general thing, if a Canadian book is published in Canada, little 
can be realized out of the venture. There are exceptions to 
every rule of course, and a few Canadian books, written and 
published in the Dominion, have repaid their authors very 
well. Mr. Dent's Last Forty Years and his Story of the Upper 
Canadian Rebellion, Principal Grant's Ocean to Ocean, Mr. 
Bourinot's book on Parliamentary Practice, Picturesque Canada. 
Mr. Bengough's amusing Caricature History of Canadian 
Politics, Mr. Lemoine's historical sketches, and perhaps, 
half a dozen other books, have yielded handsome returns to 



14.2 New Papers on Canadian History, 

their authors, but the great majority of our Canadian books 
have hardly paid the publisher in his outlay for printing and 
binding. Mr. John Lovell, whose experience in the business 
of book-publishing has been varied and extensive, used to call 
the fruits of his enterprise, his " housekeepers." Eventually, 
thousands of these volumes found their way to the trunk- 
makers and the auction shops. And the same thing is still 
going on. Now what can be said on the subject ? We cannot 
force the public of Canada to buy and read the works of 
Canadian writers. Our people are a reading community, and 
judging from the collection of books which may be seen in 
most houses, their literary taste is good. It might be said 
that Canadian books are not bought because the style of their 
authors is not of the highest excellence, that crudity and not 
elegance is their chief characteristic, and that in point of topic 
and treatment they possess little that is calculated to commend 
them to the book-buyer. But is this true ? 

We often speak of Canadian literature, but let us ask 
ourselves the question : Have we a literature of our own ? 
Certainly, we have writers of books ; but does the literary work 
which they perform constitute a literature, in the fullest mean- 
ing of the term ? Mr. Charles Dudley Warner has voiced the 
idea that the lack of intellectual activity of the Canadians is 
due to the fact that they have to put forth so much of their 
physical energy in an endeavor to keep warm. But Mr. 
Warner's delicious satire is often extravagant, we know, and 
we also know that he is never quite so extravagant as when he 
undertakes to deal with Canadian affairs. Mr. Carter Troop, 
the other day, discussed Mr. Warner's views, in some sharp 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 143 

paragraphs, in the New York Critic • but, at the same time, he 

felt constrained to acknowledge that in Canada there was con- 
siderable " literary feebleness." The cause of this he ascribes 
to our " humble political status." " As a colony," he writes. 
'• Canada possesses neither the higher attributes nor the graver 
responsibilities of national existence ; and where such attri- 
butes and responsibilities are wanting, national life and feeling, 
the source and inspiration of all literary achievements, will be 
equally wanting." Of course, this simply means that the 
colonial position is fatal to the development of our higher 
intellectual life and movement, — literary genius in fact, — and 
that the panacea for our ills in that respect is independence 
alone. I cannot go as far as that, though I must admit that 
the idea is suggestive and may be discussed. American letters, 
we know, during the colonial period, were feeble and insignifi- 
cant. After years of independence came a literature, full of 
promise and character. But has its present robust condition 
been reached by independence merely? Must Canada pursue a 
similar course of political advancement, if she would have a 
literature of marked individuality, color and strength ? I should 
be sorry to think so. Canada is still young in years, and time will 
work a change. American literature has grown with the increase 
in the ranks of the leisure class in the United States, and educa- 
tion has done the rest. Only a few decades ago, the people of 
the great Republic, were largely dependent on British and 
European authors for their intellectual food. Even the serials 
in the leading magazines of New York, Boston and Philadelphia, 
were from the pens of English novelists. The literature which 
we all admire to-day, is really almost of yesterday. Most of 



144 New Papers on Canadian History, 

us can remember when America had hardly more than three 
or four fiction writers of repute, while half a dozen gentlemen 
only were writing the ballads and poems of the nation, and of 
the half-dozen, not more than four were distinctively American 
in their treatment of scenery and incident. Give Canada a 
chance. Give her time to have a large leisure class. Give to 
her literary men and women, the incentive and encourage- 
ment they need, and Canadian authorship will not lack in 
individuality and robustness. Much has been done in the 
way of education. Our wealthy men are endowing colleges, 
and founding scholarships in the universities. Our schools 
are practically free ; in some of our provinces, they are 
entirely free. Perhaps, we are crowding too many men into 
the professions, but in time, even this error, if it be an error, 
will regulate itself. The country is beginning to pay attention 
to what men of culture and of thought have to say about the 
various problems of life and of human experience. Our lectures 
attract larger and more appreciative audiences. The people 
read more, and they are exercising greater discrimination in 
their reading than they ever did before, and, from all these 
signs, I feel that I am safe in predicting that the day of 
successful Canadian authorship is not far distant, and that we 
will yet have a literature of which we may feel reasonably 
proud, and that too, without changing our allegiance or 
altering our system of political and national life. 





ECHOES FROM OLD ACADIA. 



Prof. CffAS. G. D. ROBERTS, 

Kings College, Windsor, N. S. 



{ Read before tin- Canadian Club 
\ of .Ye;,' York. 



THE LIFTING OF THE CURTAIN. 



ART of the making of our beloved 
maple-leaf land has been played 
by the seaward sister province 
which once together formed Acadia. 
Walled round with fogs, and rocks 
and inhospitable seas, Acadia, now- 
divided into New Brunswick and 
Nova Scotia, is lovely at heart 
with sunshine and fertility. Her 
harbors are gateways leading from a region of storm and wild 
tides into a land of delicious summers, a land of tumbling 




I./.6 New Papers on Canadian History, 

streams and blue lakes, of ample meadows deep with grass and 
flowers drowsing through the long afternoons, of vast forests so 
thick that their grim shadows know scarcely touch of sun. 
And one of these well favored Acadian havens lured to itself 
the first settlement that struck root in the whole broad 
country, now called Canada. This was the harbor of Port 
Royal, wherein de Monts set a colony in 1605. 

It was seventy years before this that a drama had been 
opened upon the Acadian stage. On the 30th of June, 1534, 
it began, when Cartier sighted Cape Escuminac (locally now 
Skiminac), on the gulf shore of New Brunswick. 

Coming from the bleak, forbidding coasts of Newfound- 
land, which he deemed to be Cain's portion of the earth, the 
harshest corner of Acadia appeared to Cartier a Paradise. The 
wide water in which he found himself was Miramichi Bay. 
Not discovering the Miramichi itself, whose mouth lay hidden 
close at hand, behind long ranges of sand pits, chains of islands, 
and intricate shoals, he landed on the banks of a lesser 
river, not identified among the thousand that overlace that 
region with their silver courses. This stream rippled shallow 
over its gleaming pebbles, and swarmed with trout and salmon. 
The wide woods about were of pine and cedar, elm and oak, 
birch, willow, fir, maple and tamarack, and the sailor's hearts 
rejoiced over such unlimited possibilities of ships. Where the 
woods gave back a little space, the ground was covered with 
wild fruits. Great melting strawberries betrayed themselves 
by their red gleams piercing the matted grass. The bronze- 
green blackberry thickets were heavy with their yet unripened 
fruitage, and the wild pea trammelled his footsteps with its 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. Ijj 

ropes of purple and pale green. This prodigal land was popu- 
lous with game. When wild pigeons in innumerable flocks 
streamed past and darkened the air. the heavens seemed as 
thick with wings as the sea and streams with the countless 
salmon passing the shoals. Every sedge-grown marsh was 
noisy with ducks. Plover and curlew piped clearly about the 
edges of the pools. And the people possessing this land were 
friendly and few. 

Bearing northward, Carrier's weather-darkened sails were 
soon wafting him over the fairest bay his eyes had yet rested 
upon. Its waters were clear green, and scarce rippled 
under the steep sun of mid-July. No reefs, no shoals, but 
here and there a dark green island asleep on the sleepy tide. 
On either hand a long receding line of lofty shores drawing 
close together towards the west, and shading gently from indigo 
to pale violet. So great was the change from the raw winds 
of the gulf to this sultry sea that Cartier named it Baie 
des Chaleurs. Here they passed some days very sweetly in 
indolent exploration, in trading with the hospitable Micmacs, 
in feasting on seal flesh and salmon. So commercial were the 
natives of this land that they bartered the clothes they wore 
for trades and trinkets. Then Cartier sailed on to the north, 
to discover the St. Lawrence. And the picture of this visit of 
his to Acadian shores is the mere fleeting revelation of a light- 
ening in the night, with thicker darkness following after it. 

A I I 111: ST. CROIX M(H ."I II. 

.After a lapse of nearly three-quarters of a century, Acadian 
history makes a real beginning at the St. Croix mouth. To 



148 New Papers on Canadian History, 

the Sieur de Monts were given letters patent, conferring on 
him the title of Lieutenent-General of the Territory of Acadia, 
with full power, between the 40th and 46th parallels, to divide 
and bestow the land as he might see fit ; with power also of 
monopolizing trade, of making war and peace, and ordinances 
and law. With him set sail from Havre de Grace, in March 
1604, Baron de Poutrincourt, and the father of Canada, 
Champlain. In June the prospective colony, in search of an 
abiding place, having rejected Port Rossignol and the pastoral 
valley of Port Royal, having traversed the yellow turbulence 
of the Bay of Fundy and discovered the rock-bastioned harbor 
hollowed by the outflow of the St. John, found itself among 
the myriad islands of Passamaquoddy Bay. Even Clamplain, 
the faithful chronicler, could keep no count of these islands. 
A vast sweeping curve of the shore, leagues in extent, clasped 
the sunny archipelago as a handful of jewels ; and at the apex 
of the curve a broad river emptied itself quietly, between 
wooded low-lying lands, watched over by a solitary peak. This 
now they called the St. Croix, and on a little island within its 
mouth they resolved to set their colony. The waters round 
about were alive with fish, the islands in the bay with birds. 
At the south or seaward end of the island, which was long and 
narrow, containing about half a score of acres, rose a grassy 
knoll upon which to set their watch. Save for a stray elm or 
water-ash, the island bore but grass from brink to brink, and 
the two or three trees they found they cut down to go to the 
building of the fort. This was raised at the north end, and 
around it clustered the dwelling-houses, the storehouse, the 
chapel, and a great baking oven of burnt brick. On the main 



Art, Science, Li I era hire, and Commerce. i^g 

land near by they built a mill, and sowed, though it was now full 
.summer, their rye and barley ; and they laid out garden plots, 
in loving likeness to the thyme closes and beds of marjoren 
which sweetened the air around their Norman houses. Strange 
in their nostrils were the heavy aromatic odors of the wild 
parsnip, cloying the mid-day breeze. Strange in their ears was 
the intricate metallic bubblings from the bobolink's throat, the 
chide of the grackles in the alder and swaying elm-tops. They 
cut the elm for building and the alder for fagots, and the 
bobolink moved further off as he saw his loved wild-parsnip 
heads laid low. So with digging and building the summer 
passed merrily along. But, by and by, the summer went out in 
a sudden blaze of scarlet and gold ; it 

" Had glared against the noonday and was not ;" 

and a dispiriting greyness stole across the landscape. When 
the late October winds began to pipe over the shelterless 
island, bending the sere, long grasses all one way, and ridden 
by such a legion of dead leaves that every brook was choked 
and the still pools hidden from sight, their hearts turned home- 
ward very longingly. At last the Acadian winter broke upon 
them, and it caught them unawares. The pleasant river grew 
dark, of the hue of steel, and chafed past their thresholds with 
a burden of ice and debris. The cold was such as France had 
never taught them to endure or to conceive of ; sleet and 
pitiless winds drove in through the chinks of their rough walls, 
till they crouched over the meagre fires and grew sorely 
wretched at heart. No fuel nor water was on the island, and 
for both they had to face the fury of the weather and the 



150 New Papers on Canadian History, 

danger of the sweeping ice-cakes. A band of Indians came 
to their camp upon the island ; and the colonists, not yet 
acquainted with the friendliness and good faith of these 
" Iouriquois," were harassed with continual fear and watchings. 
Champlain's hope and cheerfulness nothing could daunt, and 
he strove to sustain the flagging spirits about him. But in 
vain. Then from their despondency and homesickness, from 
the cold on their bodies ill-inured to it. and from the salt 
unwholesomeness of their fare, came disease upon them. It 
was a plague, strange and terrible, for which they could find no 
remedy. The mouths of those stricken swelled, and their 
throats, till they were choking. Their teeth dropped out and 
their limbs, grown horribly enlarged, were altogether useless. 
So swift was the disease that hardly could the sick be given 
service, and the dead buried. When spring came, and kindlier 
skies, there remained alive but forty-four persons, out of a band 
of nearly four score ; and these, as soon as strength returned, 
took ship with the first propitious weather. South as far as Cape 
Cod they searched the coasts, and found no place quite to 
their liking. But they had kept in mind the fertile valley and 
spacious sheltered basin of Port Royal ; and thither they 
betook themselves, with whatever could be carried away 
from their sorrowful winter home. The fort and the walls of 
their dwellings they left standing, and they sowed the island 
with grain before forsaking it. The deserted walls soon fell, 
or were taken away by the Indians : and the stone and cedar 
foundations are buried under drift and river silt. The island 
has moved up stream a little, gnawed off to windward by the 
tides. But its shape is still unchanged, so that the ancient 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 151 

chronicle describes a familiar spot. The wind beats steadily 
across it still, the grass bending before it with desolate mono- 
tony ; and save for the solitary light-keeper, who is there but 
from sunset to sunrise, the island is as empty of life to this 
day as when Champlain first dropped anchor in the St. Croix 
mouth. 

FRENCH GARDENS, SABLE ISI.AXH. 

" A land of sand, and ruin, and gold." 

The question is almost literally correct. Scarce anything 
but ruin and sand, is the bane of ocean-farers, the " Isle of 
Sable." And though there may be indeed but little gold herein, 
yet there is no lack of costly merchandise washed upon its 
avaricious shores, and none can tell the riches that lie hid in 
•' the sands " secretive bosom of Sable Island ! It is a name to 
conjure with, raising, as it created, more phantoms than any 
other spot on the Atlantic. It is a name, when the fog is 
thick and the winds are veering fitfully off the south-east of 
Nova Scotia, to whiten the lips and cheeks of the hardiest 
mariner. The island has been given another name : " The 
charnel house of North America." Nevertheless, this place of 
horrors has a strange fascination for those who visit it, volun- 
tarily ! The sepulchere is well whitened. Though full of dead 
men's bones, the island is kind to its dead. The clean, unresting 
currents roll them and wash them, the clean sands swathe and 
cover them away. But one holds one's grave in this island on 
frail tenure, for the fickle winds and capricious waters love to 
uncover again even what they have most carefully laid from 
sight, and will shift one's last couch many times in the course 



1 52 New Papers on Canadian History, 

of a quarter-century. After every violent gale, when calm has 
returned with clear nights, may be seen unknown bleached 
skeletons " revisiting the glimpses of the moon ;" while others, 
by the self-same wanton gale, have been lapped away again in 
sandy burial. 

The Isle of Sable is in great part a deposit of the drift of 
meeting currents. Vast eddies, from the contact of the gulf- 
stream's edge with two branches of separated polar current, 
circle about the island, eating away and rebuilding it continually. 
It is the nucleus of the densest fogs, the vortex of the wildest 
storms of the North Atlantic. Its shape is roughly that of a 
crescent, 22 miles long by one in width, and a shallow lake 
divides it longitudinally. It is moving eastward before the 
prevailing winds, and rapidly decreasing in size. When first 
set down on chart by Pedro Reinel, in 1505, its size was 
more than as great again as we have it now. On Reinel's 
chart its name is Santa Cruz. To a sheltered spot in the 
island, in honor of the earliest dwellers upon it, is given the 
name of the " French Gardens." The first settlers on the Isle 
of Sable became such by no free will of theirs ; and this was 
the manner of their coming: In the Spring of 1598, the 
Marquis De la Roche, being made Vice-Roy of Canada and 
Acadia, set sail for his new dominions with a shipload of 
convicts for colonists. Approaching the Acadian coasts he 
conceived, in his prudence, the design of landing his dangerous 
charge upon the Isle of Sable, till he might go and prepare for 
them, on the main-land, a place of safety. As the French 
barque neared the island, and the eyes of those on board, though 
sharpened by weeks of sea-voyaging, could scarce distinguish, 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 153 

save by the settling fringes of white surf, the low grey hores 
from the gray tumult of surrounding sea, De la Roche felt that 

he might leave here his sorry settlers with a most reasonable 
confidence that they would await his return. The forty 
convicts, selected from the chief prisons of France, were landed 
thro' the uproar of the surf, and the ship made haste away 
from the perilous shore. But, she came not back again ! 
De la Roche reached Acadia, chose a site for his settlement, 
and set out for the island to fetch his expectant colonists. 
But a great gale swept him back to France and drove him 
upon the Breton coast, where the Duke de Mercouer, at that 
time warring against the King, seized him, cast him into 
prison, and held him close for five years. Meanwhile, those left 
on the island were delighted enough. They were free, and 
began to forget the scourge and chain. Beside the unstable 
hummocks and hills of sand they found a shallow lake of sweet 
waters, the shores of which were clothed luxuriantly with long 
grass and lentils, and veins of vetch. Here and there were 
great patches of naked sand, and tracts where the sands had 
drifted over the grass and smothered it, but for the most part 
the valley of the lake was like a rolling meadow. No tree or 
shrub had root in all the island, but the turf where it was 
richest grew resplendent with wild lilies, and asters and dwarf 
roses. In some places the grass was thrust aside by the wiry 
branches of the blackberry, and whole acres were covered by a 
close mat of cranberry vines. Lurking in any or even' portion 
of the grass-plain were little cup-like hollows, generally filled 
with clear water. These were formed by eddies of the wind, 
which kept scooping and sucking away the sand from every 



1 54 New Papers on Canadian History, 

raw spot, where the skin-like covering of turf had been removed. 
The cups would then fill gradually from rains and from infil- 
tration. Every such pool, like the lake, was alive with ducks 
and other water-fowl, amongst which the joyous ex-convicts 
created consternation. There were wild-cattle also, trooping 
and lowing among the sand-hills, or feeding belly-deep in the 
rank water-grasses ; while herds of wild-hogs, introduced years 
before by the Portuguese, disputed the shallow pools with the 
mallard and teal. The weather for a while kept fine, and the 
winds comparatively temperate, and the sojourners held a 
carnival of liberty and indolence. But this was not for long, and 
as the skies grew harsher their plight grew harder. As the 
weeks slipped into months they grew first impatient, then 
solicitous, then despairing. Their provisions fell low and at 
last the truth was staring them in the face, they were deserted. 
From the wrecks upon the shore they built themselves at 
first a rude shelter, which the increasing cold and storms soon 
drove them to perfect with their most cunning skill. As their 
stores diminished they looked on greedily and glared at each 
other with jealous eyes. Soon quarrels broke out with but little 
provocation, and were settled by the knife with such fatal 
frequency that the members of the colony shrank apace. There 
was no discipline, no order, no authority. Every man made 
his own desire his law, and did his best to enforce it upon his 
neighbor. As they had been provided with no means of 
lighting fires, they soon had to live on the raw-flesh of the wild- 
cattle, and little by little they learned the lesson and began to 
relish such fare. Little by little, too, as their garments fell to 
pieces, they replaced them with skins of the seals that swarmed 



Arc, Science, Literature^ and Commerce. 155 

about the beach ; and their hut they lined with hides from the 
cattle they had slaughtered. 

The hut was built in the deepest heart of the island, in the 
firmest group of sand-hills they could find, for they had speedily 
learned to dread the winds that scourged that naked land with 
relentless fury. They built the walls about with turf and 
secured them with the heaviest timbers to be had. In the 
raving December nights, when the bitter cold edged through 
their thickest walls, they laid aside their feud and animosity 
and huddled together for the sake of warmth. Terror, too, 
drew them closer together, when the hurricane yelled about the 
sand-hills; when every one caught outside the hut had to 
throw himself on his face lest he should be whirled out to sea; 
when the darkness fell suddenly while they thought it scarce 
mid-day ; when the only light was that from the driven spume ; 
when the whole island quivered under the thunderous waters vol- 
leyed against it ; and when the miles of beach were rent away to 
form new shoals in the offing. As the months became years their 
deadly contests ceased, but exposure, and frost, and hunger, 
and disease kept thinning their ranks. They occupied them- 
selves in persuing the seal for its skin, the walrus for its ivory. 
The cattle they killed only to supply their needs; but the wild 
swine, grown bloodthirsty from having devoured dead bodies, 
they hunted down remorselesly as a hateful foe. And so t he- 
time dragged on, till they began to say they were nearly five years 
in this prison. They had gathered a great store of sealskins, 
ivory and hides, but now only twelve men remained to 
possess these riches. Their beards had grown to their waist, 
their skins were like the furs that covered them, their nails 



156 New Papers on Canadian History, 

were like birds' claws, their eyes gleamed with a sort of shy- 
ferocity through the long matted tangle of their hair. At last, 
from out of his prison, De la Roche got word to the King, 
telling him of their miserable fortune. A ship was at once 
sent out to rescue them, under the guidance of the pilot 
Chetodel who had sailed on the former voyage with De la 
Roche. They saw the ship at anchor outside the shoals and 
came down upon the beach, waving their arms. As they saw 
the ship urging to land thro' the breakers, they shouted and 
ran about like madmen, or cast themselves down grovelling in 
the sand, till their rescuers imagined them half-savage, half 
wild beast. Taken back to France with their furs and ivory, 
they were brought before Hemy as they had been found, in their 
shaggy hair, and beards, and their coats of .kins. The story of 
their grievous hardships moved the King, and he gave them 
money, with a full pardon ; whereupon two or three of them 
went back to their island of horrors to collect more furs, and 
for the rest of their lives devoted themselves to that trade. 
The site of their hut, and of the sand-plot which the)' made an 
effort to till, has years ago been engulfed by the tides, and 
probably forms an outlying part of what is now called the 
Northwest bar. But the name, " French Gardens," keeps the 
story of their sufferings in remembrance; and the spot that 
bears the name is, by courtesy, the spot that gave them refuge. 

THE ORDER OF THE GOOD TIMES. 

As an offset to such a story of desolation, let me turn 
for a moment to the famous "Order of a Good Time.'' This 



Art % Science, Literature^ and Commerce. 157 

institution, organized by Champlain at Port Royal, during the 

winter 1606-1607, has been well celebrated by the merry Max 
Lescarbot, a moving spirit in the Order. And it has been 
overlooked, I think, by no historian since. The temple of 
the Order was Poutrincourt's dark-ceilinged dining-hall, his 
amp] dining-table the shrine of its most sacred mysteries. 
The initiated members were fifteen, and for guests, when they 
craved the spice of life, they had the great Micmac 
chieftain, with such of his warriors and wives as showed them- 
selves most amenable to civilization. The office of honor and 
responsibility in the Order was the ancient office of steward, 
which fell to each member in turn, and was tenable fortunately, 
only a day at a time. Upon the shoulders of the steward there 
fell, with the decorated collar of his dignity, the burden of 
assuaging the appetites of this hungry and hilarious brother- 
hood. He had at his disposal no lack of stored provisions, 
bread, dried fruits, etc., brought from France by the previous 
summer's ship ; but he would cover his office with dis- 
grace if he failed to add some new delicacy to each new bill of 
fare. At first the task was not difficult, but as the various kinds 
of fish became familiar to the palates of the order, as another and 
yet another species of game was accepted and registered as 
satisfactory, the honorable steward was soon driven to tax his 
best wits. But there was never a failure, if we may trust 
Lescarbot's chronicle. Only, alas, toward spring, the wine ran 
low, and instead of three quarts to each member, the daily 
allowance was diminished to one poor pint. Canada's national 
beverage was not yet brewed, or they might have turned their 
rye to delightful account ! When dinner was announced, the 



158 New Papers on Canadian History^ 

steward in his decorations led the way, bearing the staff and 
napkin of his office, and all followed in set order and solemn 
dignity, till the laden table was revealed in the glow of the 
heaped-up hearth, and the low-ceiling, with its shifting shadows, 
seemed to draw closer down about the cosy revel. The feast 
done, ami grace said in grateful Latin, the steward rose and 
pledged his successor in a final magnanimous cup, and then 
resigned to him his badges and his burden. The effect of such 
an institution was to keep hearts and hands cheerful, and to 
speed the winter finely ; and though some of the colonists died 
before spring, Lescarbot sets this down to the fact that these were 
of a sluggish and fretful disposition and not susceptible to the 
curative powers of mirth. There is another and not implausible 
explanation however, which Lescarbot strangely overlooks. 
Sometime during January the whole Order went on a six miles 
trip, to see if the corn they had sown in November was 
growing under the snow ; and there, in the snow and mocking 
sunshine, they held a picnic-banquet very gayly. This was a 
new and charming experience ; but the four deaths occurred 
not many weeks later ! Poor sluggish, fretful souls ! 

THE WIFE OF CHARLES I. A TOUR. 

It is about this woman that chiefly clings the romance of 
Acadian history. Her is the name that stands in Acadian an- 
nals for heroism, fidelity, wifely devotion, ill-fate. Her's is a 
figure among illustrious women than which there is none bathed 
in a clearer and more stainless fame. Her's is the memory served 
with most chivalrous worship from the lips of us later Acadians. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 150 

On level land, well out of reach of high titles, on the inmost 
corner of that sate haven which lies at the mouth of the St. 
John, was built the fortressed home of Charles la Tour. It 
stood upon the harbor's western shore, over against a small 
island which ceases to be an island at low water, when the west 
channel, now called " Buttermilk Channel," for occult reasons 
has a trick of going dry. It was a strong fort of four bastions, 
heavily palisaded, and was the outlet for all the rich trade of 
the St. Johns River valley and eastern Maine. Within the 
fort were happiness and plenty, whether the master of the fort 
remained at home to rule as a kindly despot among his follow- 
ers, or whether, during his long journeys into the wilderness, 
he left his wife to divide her time between her children and the 
government of the colony. The wife upon whose hands, with 
such confidence, he laid responsibilities so heavy, was a nobly- 
born and daintily-nurtured woman, who had left for him the 
luxury of a home in rich Rochelle. Love for their mistre-^. 
however, made the colonists easy to rule ; and their time went 
by not idly, but with peace. There was trading with the Indians 
continually ; there was the hunting and trapping ; there were 
the long rows of stake-nets to be emptied of their salmon, and 
shad, and gaspereaux when the stony-flats east of the fort 
were daily uncovered by ebb-tide. So the days were filled up 
pleasantly at the mouth of the St. Johns. Hut across the fog 
and turbulence of the bay, in fair Port Royal, was creeping up 
a storm to marthis brightness. There sat the Sieur Charnisay. 
dividing with La Tour the Acadian territority and trade, and 
watching with vindictive envy the prosperity of his rival. 



160 New Papers on Canadian History, 

Already his enmity and diligent intrigues at Versailles were 
beginning to show their effects. 

It was in the early spring of 1643, a dense, raw fog clung 
over the harbor and the heights. The tide was out ; the flats 
stretched seaward their long lines of clean grey rock and their 
beds of olive kelp ; the current of the great river swirled past 
sullenly with its sheets of whirling foam from the falls ; the 
men, whose purple hands, numbed with the salt, were empty- 
ing the ranges of nets, loomed vague and distorted through the 
mist, and the voices of their comrades, whom the darkness hid, 
seemed wizard-like uttered from the waters. Suddenly the fog 
thinned, lifted, faded away into the blue of a sunlit morning ; 
its last shreds streaming off reluctantly through the firs and 
cedars on the cliffs. The fish-gatherers, startled by an alarm- 
gun from the fort, looked up to find three vessels sailing in under 
what is now called Partridge Island. Following in the shadow 
of the same steep, dark-wooded shore, came several small crafts, 
pinnaces and cat-rigged launches. There was but little time 
left for taking counsel. All the colony was soon within walls, 
and the gunners stood to their pieces. Not bringing his ships 
within range of the fort's heavy metal, Charnisay choose a 
piece of smooth, red beach to the southward, where the waves 
lapped softly, and some cakes of ice still lingered in the shal- 
lows. Here he led ashore his five hundred men to the assault. 
By the half-dry channel to the left, by the dripping flats in 
front, by the naked uplands to the right, with shouts and vol- 
leys of musketry, the invaders stormed in. But La Tour was 
at home and not caught sleeping. For an hour the assault 
raged furiously on rampart and palisade and bastion, but the 



.7/7, Science, Literature, and Commerce. r6i 

short carronades, with lowered muzzles, swept the ditches clear, 
and the besieged with musket stock and hand-spike beat down 
every foe that scaled the walls. Charnisay at last broke into 
an impotent rage, and ordered off his men to the ships; while 
the derisive garrison expediated their going with the acrid spur 
of bullets in their rear. Charnisay then drew a strict blockade 
about the fort and harbor, and waited for hunger to achieve 
what his arms could not. 

But La Tour, like the Ithacan chieftain, was no less subtle 
than brave, and to hold him imprisoned was a feat Charnisay 
had not yet learned to perform. The Rochelle ship, long 
expected with supplies and reinforcements, at length appeared 
off the coast. Instructed by timely signals from the fort, she 
kept well out in the offing; and toward the close of a murky 
night a small boat slipped under her stern, and Charles La Tour 
and his wife were received on board. In shadow of the shores 
of the harbor and Partridge Island heights, favored by the first 
of the ebb and a gentle wind off shore, with muffled oars they 
had crept through the blockade, and were off for help to Boston 
ere the dawn. The help was got, and all haste made back to 
the rescue. As Charnisay rested on his decks, dreaming that 
his foe was pinched with famine, his triumph now surely close 
at hand, as a most unpleasant revalation came La Tour with 
five ships and bore down upon him ready for battle. But he 
had small stomach for the encounter, and standing not upon 
the order of his going, the whole force took flight for refuge in 
Port Royal. As he reached Port Royal, La Tour was on his 
heels chastising him upon his own threshold. The quarrel 
might well have been ended then and there, to the sparing of 



162 New Papers on Canadian History, 

much misery in the future, but the scruples of his Puritan 
allies, who were fairly well content with the booty already 
fallen to their hands — a cargo of rich furs belonging to 
Charnisay — here stepped in and proclaimed the virtues of 
moderation. 

These half-measures, as La Tour well knew, could profit 
his cause but little. Charnisay was not enfeebled by this 
repulse ; fortified, rather, in his purpose, strengthened with a 
more inexorable will of revenge. In silence both antagonists 
braced to renew the struggle. La Tour set himself to repair 
his defences, while his wife undertook a voyage to France to 
gather men and supplies and to strengthen the hearts of her 
husband's friends in his cause. To France also had gone her 
enemy before her, to plot and scheme at court, to borrow money, 
and to heap up false accusations against La Tour. After the 
manner of a mean nature toward whatever most shames it by 
contrast, Charnisay appeared to hate the wife even more 
bitterly than the husband, and no sooner learned of her coming 
than he brought a charge of treason against her, and obtained 
the King's order for her arrest. But the lady had been 
watching his every move, and now, as more than once there- 
after, over-matched him. She made a seasonable departure 
for England, and from London organized her husband's relief. 
By the spring of 1644, she had a vessel chartered and set sail ; 
but the captain consumed the whole summer in trading by the 
way. It was September when she reached Acadian waters, 
where Charnisay was on the watch for her, and straightway 
boarded the ship. She and all her party were hidden in the 
hold and the ship was represented as a trading-vessel bound for 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, /6j 

Huston blown tar out oi her course by adverse winds. Beguiled 
by this possible story Charnisay retired ; the vessel's course 
was mended for Boston, and the brave wife landed on Boston 
wharves just too late to see her husband sail away. He, filled 
with fear at her strange delay, had once more come to Boston 
for assistance ; but this time on a futile errand, for the Puritans 
would hazard in his cause naught more costly than their 
sympathy and good wishes, and he had gone away at last with 
plenty of smiles upon his lips but with something near despair 
at his heart. But his wife, her hands now free, lost no more 
time. Bringing action for the unwarrantable delays she was 
adjudged two thousand pounds damages, in satisfaction of 
which she immediately seized the ship's cargo. Meanwhile 
arrived in the city an ambassador from Port Royal, seeking 
peace between Charnisay and New England. Hearing of the 
lady's presence the envoy made great haste with his business, 
and having persuaded the non-committal Puritans into some- 
thing like a treaty he departed from the city the same night. 
His hope was to give warning at Port Royal in time to capture 
this dangerous adversary before she could get behind the walls. 
But the servant succeeded no better than his master had done 
before him. As he came before Charnisay with his tidings, 
the brave wife was in the arms of her husband from whom she 
had been parted during thirteen months of fear. This was in 
October; and Charnisay now for a time sat quiet with his 
wrath, which required little nursing to keep warm. Not till 
the following February did he judge his vengeance ripened to 
the plucking. His needs had driven La Tour again to Boston. 
On the news of his going came the grim craft of his enemy, 



1 6./. New Papers on Canadian History, 

appearing swiftly in silence like a shark, and took station under 
the lee of Partridge Island. The winter days wound by on 
tedious feet, under leaden skies for the most part, and through 
rainy winds and sleet. But on sharp blue mornings the 
watchers on the ramparts could see flitting whitely across the 
furthest tides, the cruisers of Charnisay waiting to intercept 
the longed-for relief. Within the fort, in spite of the wearying 
suspense, the garrison maintained good heart, scorning to be 
any less heroic than the dauntless woman at their head. As 
venison, fish and flour got low, the monotonous strain on their 
spirits grew more intense, till even attack would have been hailed 
as a fortunate change. Then came the excitement of finding 
traitors in their midst, and two friars, spies in conspiracy with 
Charnisay, were uncloaked with fierce curses and contempt. 
The garrison was for hanging them forthwith from the battle- 
ments, but their leader's too compassionate heart forbade it. 
She contented herself with driving them from the fort, from 
whose gates they slunk, white with terror and tremulous with 
malice, like lashed hounds to their master. Their words were 
exquisite to the ears of Charnisay. They told him of a feeble 
and dispirited garrison ; of little powder, and that hurt by the 
wet ; and of his long-craved triumph now within the very 
grasp of his fingers. The gray spectre of a ship that had so 
long lurked in the shadow of the dark island, was now seen to 
glide from her moorings. She drew silently up the harbor, lay 
to under the walls, then burst out against the fort with the 
roar of all her guns. But the sullen walls, so long seemingly 
dead, from which he had expected scarce a retort, awoke 
straightway to most retaliatory life. Every bastion blazed, 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, r6§ 

and Charnisay's spars flew iti splinters under the storm. The 
garrison went wild with the delight of battle, as their beautiful 
leader — for she was beautiful — encouraged them, and moved 
where peril was the thickest. She went from bastion to 
bastion, and would take no shelter that covered not her 
followers as well; her clear eyes seemed everywhere at once, 
marking with grateful approval the brave loyalty of the least 
of her men. As her form from time to time appeared to those 
on shipboard, through the dividing drifts of smoke, the lips of 
Charnisay set themselves with yet more implacable hatred. 
The clear stretches of snow at the rear of the fort, the dazzling 
capes upon shoulders of fir-tree and cedar on the uplands, 
turned swarthy-brown as the smoke-waves volumed over them : 
and the tide-eaten ice-fringe was blackened along the shore 
under the battle. Soon the concentrated fire from the ramparts 
began to tell heavily upon the vessel's hull, her rigging being 
already a mass of wreck. When a score of men lay dead upon 
her decks and everywhere lay the wounded, Charnisay would 
still acknowledge no repulse. But when it was found that the 
hold was filling rapidly, with deep curses he turned for flight 
while flight was possible. But it was barely possible. Igno- 
miniously beaten by a woman, whom he had attacked when he 
thought her nearly helpless, he got out his small boats and 
hawsers and painfully towed his sinking hull out of range. 
He ran her ashore for repairs upon a strip of sandy beach ; and 
as soon as she could be kept afloat and steered he put back to 
Port Royal, balked once more. But he had the whole of 
France open behind him, while the adversary under whose 
chastisement he now writhed was so utterly shut off from all 



1 66 New Papers on Canadian History, 

resources that the very nights and days fought against her. 
Her victory even seemed to presage defeat. Her enemy, when 
he again attacked, would more justly have measured her 
strength. Her husband could neither break nor elude the fast 
blockade which Charnisay's deadly vigilance maintained. And 
through the lull that followed their success it seemed to the 
waiting handful in the fort that the end of their grim play drew 
swiftly near. 

With the first of April weather, the climax came. One 
still night, when the sentry could hear the far-off rush of the 
falls, could hear the weird honking of the wild-geese, streaming 
northward unseen through the starless night, his ears grew 
suddenly alert as he caught also a distant rattle of cables, voices 
of sailors, and the splash of lowering boats. The fort was astir 
at once ; lights glimmered here and there and were afterward 
extinguished and all made ready for the struggle that was expect- 
ed with the dawn. With the dawn it came. The foe had disem- 
barked in the night, and now made the attack upon the landward 
and weaker side. Fiercely the stormers advanced to be doggedly 
and defiantly hurled back ; but with the defenders it was an 
energy that hoped for nothing. They, as well as their leader, 
knew that now finally had fate declared against them. From 
Thursday until Saturday the unflinching woman fronted every 
charge, and against her indomnitable courage the enemy broke 
and fled away shattered. Charnisay paused for a breathing spell 
and the garrison rested heavily. At length a stranger in the 
fort, an alien coward, turned traitor and, with the enemy's gold 
warming his pockets, admitted them when it came his turn on 
guard. Fven then, though to the garrison all was lost, Char- 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. l6y 

nisay was not yet victorious. Within walls he was met so 
desperately that a mean fear seized him lest again he should 
suffer the shame of defeat. He felt the pre-eminence of the 
woman who faced him. and inwardly quailed before her. 11< 
called out for a truce, and offered honorable terms. Seeing 
that the day was surely his, however this agonized resistance 
might be draped on, and longing with her whole heart for the 
safety of her people, she set her name to the articles of 
surrender. Then came the supreme hour of the dastard victor's 
baseness. Even at this day as one tells it a fierce heat pricks 
in one's veins. When his end was gained, the stronghold in 
his power, his great rival crushed under his heel, then Charnisay 
mocked the woman he had so hardly vanquished, and tore up 
the capitulation before her face. The heroic garrison he took 
man by man, and hanged them in the open yard of the fort, 
while their mistress, sinking with honor, was held to watch 
them with a halter about her neck. The hideous deed finished 
Charnisay took his captive to Port Royal, where he presented 
her to his wife with mock reverence, as his deadly foe taken in 
by him to be cherished. Hut his taunts or his malignance to 
her were nothing; she had no heart left for any further pang. 
Within three weeks from the ruin of her husband, the des- 
truction of her home, the butchery of the loved and loyal 
followers, the wife of Charles La Tour died, with bitterest foes 
and strangers watching her. 

AN ACADIAN '• BUCHE DE N< >EL." 

At this season it is appropriate that I should close with 
some faint echoes from an old Acadian Christmas. 



1 68 New Papers on Canadian History, 

It is December 25th, 1610 Anno Domini, and the tiny 
colony at Port Royal is five years old. The sun has risen just 
clear of a range of encircling hills, white with new snow. The 
whiteness is cut sharply here and there by sturdy fir-trees that 
have shaken the snow from their overladen boughs and now 
tower erect in the sparkling air, while their feebler fellows bend 
to earth under the weight of their snowy capes. Were we 
nearer we should find these unimprisoned trees girt about with 
a tangle of rabbit tracks and the dainty foot-prints of squirrels? 
the snow beneath the branches spotted with half-gnawed 
fragments of fir-cones. The level sunshine streams down the 
valley to the little palisaded fort at whose gate we are standing ; 
it dazzles over miles of white plain, then out upon the bosom 
of the land-locked harbor of Port Royal. In the distance and 
out of our kin, beats the tide-chafed mother of fogs, the Bay 
of Fundy. The blue and golden surface of the harbor is 
flecked with ice cakes from the Port Royal river, which is 
soughing in its channel close beside us. The tide is out, and the 
stream's bed is choked with ice-cakes, huddled thick together ; 
but along high water-mark the ice is laid in order, like mighty 
armor-plates of crystal, soiled at the edges and weather-eaten. 
The sobbing in mid-channel, the low noises of grinding and 
crumbling, and the signs of the incoming tide, lifting the ice. 
At the head of yonder little island the floes have shouldered one 
over another above tide-level, and with their clear facets have 
built up a mighty cluster of prisms. The snow that has 
wrapped up everything, climbing the palisades of the fort, 
hiding the ditch, curving over the low eaves of our poor half- 
dozen cabins, is trodden well down before the door of the for^e 



. //-/, Science, Literature, and Commerce. /o<y 

and strewn with great fragrant yellow chips. The forge fire is 
out to-day, black as the store of charcoal heaped behind the 
anvil, and firewood in liberal lengths is piled up higher than 
the eaves. As we mark each detail in this our live spot in the 
expanse of gleaming desolation, and note how the smoke from 
fort and cabin curls dusky orange against the hard blue sky, a 
restless-looking, dark-faced man, in deerskin tunic and creased 
voluminous boots comes out of the fort and plies the axe with 
vigor upon a huge trunk of dry pine. At the sound of the 
axe-strokes an Indian cur appears stealthily, and its down in 
front of the chopper to observe his work. As the chips fly 
thick and fast the dog moves to a safer distance. Then a cabin 
door opens, and the inviting roar of a fire streams out into the 
frost. The chopper hesitates, leaves the log unsevered, enters 
and shuts the door behind him : while, stealthily as it came, 
glides away the Indian cur. 

This is the quiet of Christmas morning at Port Royal, two 
hundred and seventy-six years ago. No clamoring of bells, no 
laughing shrill voices, no idly hurried crowds as in their own 
dear Picardie and Normandie. Jean de Biencourt, Baron Pou- 
trincourt, has with him twenty-three persons in this little lonely 
colony. No need of work or haste this Christmas morning ; 
and their work is, for this day at least, done. They have drawn 
in the yule log, with abundance of cut firewood ; and though 
they have by no means too much venison in store, they have 
worn themselves out in the hunt and need not take it up again 
till the morrow. So they idle about, and 

" Dream of fatherland, 

Of child and wife," 



I jo New Papers on Canadian History, 

till it shall be time to gather in the chief room of the fort and 
eat their poor Christmas dinner. They are depending almost 
wholly now upon such fish as they can catch through the ice, 
and on the game they capture for themselves or buy from the 
friendly Micmacs near at hand. Their grain, corn, barley and 
a little wheat is all but gone ; the longed-for vessel from France 
still delays ; and it is doutful if they can succeed in staving off 
absolute famine. But for this one day at least, they will not 
stint themselves, though moose-meat and fish become sorely 
monotonous to their palates. 

The night before they had lighted the yule log with brave 
cheerfulness and good fellowship, had welcomed the feast with 
firing of guns, and had initiated the convert Memberton with 
his braves, into the blessed mysteries of the season. Father 
Fleshe had summoned them in tow aid midnight, and mass had 
been celebrated with single-hearted fervor indeed ; but ah ! with 
what a difference from the services even then, as they knew, 
being offered up in lighted aisles and chancels far away. They 
had thought of the sea of upturned faces, rapt and moveless, 
as the shepherd-priests came forward reverently and the curtain 
was drawn back to show the Virgin and the Child. Again in 
their ears rang the soaring flaw less treble of the hidden boy, 
singing as an angel, the Gloria in Excelsis. Again, as they 
chanted with closed eyes, the}- heard the full responses, the 
clanging of swung censors; they saw the ranks of surpliced 
priests and singers bow together ; and the aromatic breath of 
incense stole into their nostrils. But it was only a handful of 
exiled and weary men, singing at midnight in a rude half- 
lighted room; outside their walls the limitless Acadian wilder- 



. /;7, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iji 

and a thousand miles of wild seas between themselves 

and home. Then, for some, as they turned to their blankets, 
what aching of heart to see no little shoes set out in prime- 
order before the fire-place, expectant of toys and sweetmeats 
from Jisus Bambin ! And for all of them, the coming festival 
could be but a season of longing and of looking back. '1 his 
was their Christmas eve! 

To-day, as the hours wear on, the stories the}- have been 
telling come to an end ; the pine-trunk by the forge-door has 
been more than once attacked spasmodically, till it bears no 
remoted resemblance to its former self; and the savors of 
venison and fish, and of hot cakes of broken wheat, attract 
attention. The fire in the chief room blazes higher and higher. 
Snow-shoes hang on the walls, or stand in the corners in a 
confusion of muskets, and hand-nets and lon^ ashen paddles. 
Over the windows are moose-hides tanned with the hair on, 
heavy black bear-skins, and furs of lynx and loup-cervier, out of 
which, as a faint ^ r ust stirs them, gleam polished claws and 
white snarling teeth. The warriors invited to the feast squat 
at one side on their deer-skins, and the sober revel be 
The courses are few and little varied, but the dinner is by no 
means one of h< 1)-. Vet is it a feast where love is, and the 
red guests pledge to their entertainers unending fealty ; a 
pled^r <1« stined never to be broken. Then follows stories, and 
encounters of w it. and remembrances, and toasts ; speeches 
are made, prophetic of a new and mighty nation to spring from 
the heroic effort of their own small band; and ./ In Claire 
Fontaine is sung, with other loved old songs. As night falls, a 
wind roars in from the sea, full of drift and ot the sounds I 



IJ2 New Papers on Canadian History, 

crashing ice, and lashes wildly roof and palisade. Some 
paddles and snow-shoes fall to the floor with loud clatter. 
Then the fire on the wide hearth blazes up redder than ever, 
hissing and sparkling fitfully ; the company draw closer to the 
bla e, shutting off the light from the further draughty corners ; 
dark faces glow and moist eyes gleam as they watch the flame 
intently, fallen into silence ; and our picture fades out into the 
dimness of three centuries ago. 

In conclusion, a brief glance at the modern .Acadian 
Christmas! In Madawaska County, New Brunswick, leagues 
inland from the beating of sea-winds, or fertile banks of 
the St. John and Green River, the Madawaska, Ouisibio, and 
other lovely streams, the Acadian now builds snugly his wide- 
eaved cottage, setting an orchard about it, amid fields of flax 
and buckwheat, and painting his broad barn-doors and the 
vane of his inevitable windmill of the crudest ochreish red. At 
Christmas the snow has fallen all around him to the depth of 
five or six feet, his fences and boundaries are obliterated, his 
roofs scarce rise above the encompassing levels. Indoors the 
fire lights up his shelves of blue and white crockery. There is 
no chilly plaster to be seen. The ceiling is of wood darkened 
with years and smoke. The one partition, dividing his abode 
into living-room and sleeping-room, is of wood, polished by the 
rubbing of hands and shoulders. The massive square bed ; 
the square cradle that rocks with dreadful thud, loud enough 
to keep a baby wakeful a whole life-time ; the square table ; 
the spinning-wheel that could not well be square — all are of 
the same brown, solid, shining wood. On Christmas eve there 
are the guns and shooting, the drive in the pung, half filled 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ryj 

with quilts and straw, to meet at the little chapel miles away ; 
and on Christmas day the fiddle reigns supreme. Neighbors 
flock in, and moccassined feet dance indefatigably, morn and 
noon and night. Huge slices of sweet bread, such has been 
made for this feast out of plain dougli kneaded up with 
molasses and spotted with dried blue-berries, and washed down 
with a wholesome beer made from spruce boughs and juniper 
berrie>. Sometimes the " national beverage" plays a modest 
part. Not seldom, as it grows late, the dancing palls, and the 
singing. Then, as of old, all gather round the fire; and if, as 
often happens, a modern cooking-stove has supplanted the 
open hearth, they provide themselves with large raw pota 
from which, with their clasp-knives, they shave thin slices 
artistically. The next point is important ; they spit on these 
slices, and then fry them to a turn on the hot black covers : 
and the sizzling and aroma fill the air. If the hearth still 
holds sway, each arms himself with a slim green sapling, 
whereon he toasts red herrings ,or the damsel of his heart, 
who sits beside him. The children of the house, meanwhile, 
from under parti-colored coverlets, stare through the open 
doorway with unwinking eyes, too early exiled from the circle, 
but solaced with peppermints and delicacies which the Good 
Angel, acquainted with the corner grocery, has brought them 
in their sleep the night before. So the day, and the night, 
draw to a close. And if the mood of the party has been a 
merry one, the cocks, perchance, are crowing under the snow- 
muffled sheds, the last stars fading out on the biting, grey-blue 
sky of dawn, as the guests race away in a confusion of jangling 
bells, and straw, and snorting of the poni 




COMMERCIAL UNION BETWEEN CANADA 
AND THE UNITED STATES. 



Hon. B. BUTTERWORTH, M. C. 



i Read before the Canadian Club 
I of New York. 



Y heartiest thanks first for the honor 
of addressing you this evening. 

It is my purpose t<> discuss the 
merits of full and complete reciprocity 
of trade and commerce — commercial 
union, if you please — between the 
United States and the Dominion of 
Canada. 

Import and export duties are levied fort two purposes. 
First — To collect revenue to defray the expenses and to 
pay the debts of the government. 




ry6 New Papers on Canadian History, 

Second — To encourage, foster, and protect domestic 
industry. 

The protective system, as it is called, has for its object to 
do away with the inequalities which obtain between competi- 
tors in this country and those oi the old world who are 
engaged in the same industrial fields. 

Protection was not intended as an agency for the mere 
mc. ease of profits; consequently the question which should be 
considered by Congress is not simply that of the magnitude oi 
profits resulting from manufactu es established under its wings, 
but the question is whether we should be able, without the 
protective duty levied on articles of commerce produced in the 
old world, to engage successfully in manufactures at all. The 
question is whether the perfected plans of the older countries, 
the rare skill of its workmen, resulting from the accumulated 
experience of years, together with the abundance of cheap 
labor, does not enable European manufacturers to lay down 
goods at our doors cheaper than we could possibly produce 
them : and whether money invested in a shop, mill or factory, 
in view or such competition, is not an absolute loss. 

This does not apply with so much force to the agricul- 
turist who can compete with the world in the growth of agri- 
cultural products. The protective tariff naturally raises the 
price of all the articles upon which a duty is imposed, and the 
cost of most of the articles the farmer uses, except those he 
produces himself, is thereby enhanced. The farmer found a 
compensation under the protective system in the fact that, 
under the development of our industries, great cities and towns 
grew up. and markets for the products of the farms were thereby 



Arty Science. Literature, and Commerce. ijy 

created. What the farmer lost through the increased cost of 
the articles he purchased, he more than made up through the 
increased amount he received for the supplies he was enabled 
to sell to those employed in the industries which owed their 
existence to the protective system. But, as a tub to the agri- 
cultural whale, a tariff was levied also upon farm produce. 

The European manufacturer and merchant cannot dispose 
of a plow, a trace-chain, a knife or a hoe upon our market 
without paying a large tax to our government for the privilege. 
Nor can the foreign merchant sell us a yard of cloth or silk, or 
a quinine pill, until he has paid the duty levied by Congress. 
Of course this is all paid at last by the consumer, who finds a 
compensation for the alleged burden in the prosperity of his 
country, brought about in the manner I have mentioned. The 
tariff is a law arbitrarily enacted by Congress — there is but one 
party to its formation. It is a system with which the nation 
• rting to it has alone to do. 

It should and does ostensibly deal with unequal conditions 
in the field of competition, its mission should be that of equal- 
izing them. It follows logically, and as a common-sense 
proposition, that when the conditions are equal, so-called 
protection is disguised robbery, legalized filching from one 
citizen to enrich another citizen. 

Reciprocity of trade invokes an agreement between two 
nations, according to the terms of which, trade and commerce 
are to be carried on between the people of the two contract- 
ing nations. 

1 he proposition in the instance which concerns us, the 
merits of which I shall discuss, is that of a full and complete 



I fS A - :. Papers on Canadian History, 

reciprocal trade and commerce between the United States and 

Canada. By its terms, for all purposes of trade, barter and 
exchange, the two countries shall be as one country. There 
being no necessary connection or relation between the political 
institutions of a country and its trade and commerce, the 
arrangement has nothing to do with government matters or 
political conditions. By this arrangement we seek to remove 
all the custom-houses along our Canadian frontier, to withdraw 
the line of pickets that keep watch and ward on both sides 
along 3,000 miles of our northern boundary, in order that, on 
the one hand, the American farmer shall not sell to his neigh- 
bor across the line some early potatoes or earl)- corn without 
first going to the custom-house and paying a large part of the 
value of the produce for the privilege ; while compelling 
the other hand, the Canadian to submit to the same extortion 

e he can sell to his friend who supplied him with the 

rn and potatoes a later variety of the same articles. 

We propose — as the inhabitants of what should be considered. 

ill trade purposes, a common country, being in race. 
religion, ancestry and tradition one people, and differing only in 
our political institutions — to throw down the barriers that now 
block every highway of business prosperity and progress, and 
open all the courses and channels ide between the Gulf 

ind the northern boundary of the Dominion of 

da. We propose that the farmer, the manufacturer and 
the merchant shall, unhampered and unrestricted, seek markets 
in every part of this vast field of development, and thereby 
settle at once, and in a manner worth}- of our race and civiliza- 

the petty squabbles about the fisheries now more than a 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ijy 

century old. He who appeals to the protective system between 
competitors in Canada and in the United States, asks for 
monopoly not equality. He seeks an unjust advantage, not 
an equal opportunity. 

Both Americans and Canadians may invoke the protective 
system against the whole world, but the system has no proper 
place between Canadians and Americans, unless authorized 
extortion in the interest of monopolists should be the proper 
aim of legislative effort. 

There is not a condition, there is not a worth}- interest 
involved in the proposition that does not cry out against the 
present system and in favor of the fullest reciprocal trade. 

Careful investigation will disclose that the growth of our 
industries is in a large measure the result of our system of patent 
laws, which has funded and multiplied industries almost beyond 
computation. It is well to understand which are the actual 
sources of our prosperity. I have not time to discuss at length 
this factor of the problem : therefore I shall proceed with the 
main question, the nature of which I have endeavored to 
explain. 

The adoption of the proposed system would involve an 
assimilation of tariff rates and internal revenue taxes, and pos- 
sibly an arrangement for pooling receipts from customs, and a 
division on some equitable basis — all of which, as it has been 
fully demonstrated, present no serious difficulty or embarrass- 
ing problem. 

The details of the arrangement I do not propose now to 
discuss. It is enough to remark that once the policy being 
decided upon, its execution will be an easy matter. 



A . . 

The times and the conditions into which both countries 
.ire plact . this question upon public attention. 

It is said that unsettled public questions have no pit] 
then nations. The truth of that saying is fitly illus- 

- the disturbing influence of the unsettled fisheries 
quest i the United States and a. It stands. 

and it has remained since the treaty of Paris, a constant and 
thre.r. and repose of both nations. 

It has been a barrier to trade and commerce between the two 

•at a single industry, and efforts have 
..v mad. s .'it without reference to interests 
with which, in the future of things s iseparabl] 

i is not a new one. nor does it now for 
challenge the thoughtful 
1 1 - - ghts 

^ligations fis untries I i fish 

sell it in certain markets. R 
igs eges »ous is u i u - g 

s g s : : m tex of the c 

atrial interests 
id the Unite States 

ninion of 
The c sts the United S 

their shs ens ; - endured hardships 

establish the s ereigi - lag I 

The : :" the 

iintiy 
Si ttes 
In tfa - the experienct s bout th. 



Art. Science, Literature, and Commen 181 

ours; the only difference being that England, under the influ- 
ence of a riper and more enlightened civilization, inspired by 
broader statesmanship, in which the sword played a less con- 
spicuous part than formerly -accorded to Canada prompt 
redress for her grievance: nizing the necc :' the 

situation and the inexorable logic of the time. The careful 
student of history will discover that the demands of the Cana- 
dian provinces, upon the mother country, for larger powers and 
wider jurisdiction in the management of their affairs, were of a 
nature and extent which outstripped the original demands of 
the American colonist-. While entertaining and cherishing 

ct and affection for the mother country. Canada, in the 
school of experience, learned of her needs ; and, in a manner 
which suggests something more than firmness, petitioned for 
relief which was granted sooner or later. Th .ions and 

the burdens imposed upon the trade, commerce and the manu- 
factures of the colonies by the mother country were intoler- 
able. No people fit to be free, and being at all worthy of their 
English ancestry, could submit to them. However, Canadians 
did not submit. Whether themselves and the world in general 
have been the gainers on that account, future events will 
show. 

It is exceedingly interesting to note how like suppliants 
the colonists approached the mother country and sued for relief 
against laws confessedly oppressive and whose administration 
wa- intolerable. Observe the manner in which our cousins on 
the North stood and demanded what experience had taught 
them proper as belonging to a free and enlightened people in 
the matter of self-government. Long ago, England decided 



New Papers on Canadian History, 

that free-trade was best for her interests : but not until she 
became, under a different system, the workshop of the world 
and mistress of the seas. 

So tar as the colonists themselves were concerned, her 
restrictions upon the trade of her American colonies had little 
of the flavor of free-trade about them. 

Virginia was required to ship her tobacco to England in 
English vessels solely. England interposed her authority to 
paralyze every manufacturing industry in the country. Such 
a condition of things could not last, and we w ere finally com- 
pelled to set up for ourselves, but not until we had helped to 
establish the sovereignty of the British flag over the country 
north of us. In 1763 England sent to Canada her first Gov- 
ernor-General. In the latter part of the eighteenth century 
the legislative bodies of Canada had but little power: but dur- 
ing the last fifty years the Provinces were not slow to demand 
such enlargement of the powers of their home governments as 
were required by the people. England acceded, though not 
always with good grace, to the point that the destiny 
Canada, by common consent, is to-day practically confided to 
Canadians. If Canada's past belongs to England, her future 
is her own. The growth of the country in substantial inde- 
pendence and through the management of her own affairs has in 
no wise disturbed her filial regard for the mother country. When 
the mother country. I mean the people of England, not 
the English government. I make this distinction because there 
is a broad difference between an affectionate regard for the 
people of a nation and an unquestionable loyalty to the gov- 
ernmental policy which that nation may see fit to adopt. I 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iSj 

was devotedly attached to my father: I loved and honored 
him. I might not have felt great enthusiasm for his disciplin- 
ary ideas about household matters after I had acquired a home 
and a family of my own. Canadians have the best of reasons 
to cherish the deepest and sincerest affection for their English 
ancestors. But neither involve the surrender of independence 
of character and action which are inseparable from worthy 
manhood, a quality which is bound to assert itself, not only 
in those things that concern the individual, but also in affairs 
of the State. 

I am addressing Canadians whose loyalty cannot be 
doubted. If I refer to the history of the course pursued by 
the United States and Canada towards the mother country, it 
is only to show that what has been sought in the past as well 
as in the future is the freedom, prosperity and happiness of 
the citizens of each nation ; in fact they have been treading 
the same paths in order to attain a similar end. Canada 
remains loyal to England because the latter has granted her 
those rights and privileges, a denial of which to the colonists 
of the Republic drove them into emulating the example of 
their English ancestors, namely, suing for them or fighting for 
them if need be. 

The controversy about the fisheries is a quarrel between 
ourselves. It is for us to settle and to adjust that controversy 
in consonance with enlightened principles and a fair regard for 
the rights, duties, obligations and interests, of both nations. 
Hitherto a settlement has been impossible because negotia- 
tions were carried on from the English stand-point of the 
economic principle which should govern trade and commerce 



V( OH ( 

between the direct!) interested parties. Under such circum- 

I permanent and lasting solution of the question was 
tantamount to impossibility, and had to remain so as long as 
ish interests s contradistinguished from thos inada, 

to be first considered N lull and final adjustmen 

ched on the matter, except through negotiations 
between those immediately inl and who are to 

be a >y them, and these are the provinces of Canada 

and the Unit S ites. The adjustment must not be fa - 
upon the idea or theory that the fishing interests are to be 

- it the} - apart an< . . tree 

and d sassoc : from other interests, industries 
tions. \-\ settlement that should have for basis lything in 

securing the greatest g dt the g 
number, would be partia njust, and wouh 

si 

sheries ts g th in th< following 

Prior to the American devolution the inhabitants 
the English dependencies in America enjoyed in common the 
fishing - in the neighbor)) N S< New- 

ad in the s dig! sin those localities. The 

' v j the Re 

iner the rig : :- and eges 

p< S test th< fishei es Innumerable 

----- g g eg spasses 

cruisers cpt in 

thost - . rights of 

s sign< I the 

on the s. the 



. \rt. Scimcf. Literature, and Comm /8$ 

quently, England showed a disposition to 
treat the onri: a surrender by the United States of their 

ve rights to the fishing privilege d by 

America: .land's interpretation of the i 

allowed by the United Stat >te went on and 

threatened, from time to time, to culminate in war. \r. 
the relat countr: 

degree, I mean the relations between England and the United 
States — Canada was merely considered then as the cau 
the quarrel rather than a party to it. In fact. Canada was the 
little hose big brother had ;d the quarrel, 

-tesmen on this continent viewed the question in 
its true and logical aspect, and the United States and Canada 
maintained that the cor/ involved something beyond 

the interest of the respective parties in the fisheries. In their 

ation the question embraced the trade and commerce 
between Canada and the United and they maintained 

that the only possible and lasting adjustment was one which 
would place the trade between the two countries on a reci- 
1 footing. But this could only be effected by a treaty 
with England. Such favor did reciprocity of trade find in this 

try that in 1848 the House of Representat: led a 

bill enacting its establishment. John Quincy Adams v. 
member of that House : so were Robert C. Winthrop and 
Abraham Lincoln. The attitude of the Whigs toward recip- 

y may be inferred from the fact that the party had a 
majority of ten in the House which passed this bill, whilst the 
Senate was Democratic. However, the bill failed to become a 
law becau'-e it came too late before the adjournment of the 



Mew Papers on Canadian History, 

Senate, for that body to give it proper consideration. Tin's 

happened under the administration of Fillmore, of which 
Daniel Webster was Secretary of State, and Wm. H. Seward 

Senator for the State of New York. 

In closing his speech on the subject of the fisheries. Mr. 
Seward said : 

" What the colonies require is some modification of com- 
mercial relations which may affect the revenue. That is a sub- 
ject proper to be acted upon by Congress. Let us no longer 
excite ourselves and agitate the country with unavailing- 
debates, but let us address ourselves to the relief of the fisher- 
men and the improvement of our commerce. There is only 
one way that Congress can act. and that is by reciprocal legis- 
lation with the British Parliament or the British colonies." 

And he further asks whether some reciprocal legislation 
cannot be adopted to adjust these difficulties and at the same 
time consistently enlarge the rights of our fishermen with the 
various other interests of the United States. 

The wisdom of those who adopted that view has been 
attested by time and experience. Partial reciprocity came in 
1854, and only failed in its mission because it was partial, 
unequal, and in a measure unjust. It is believed that Canada 
had the advantage in that arrangement. However, the treaty 
which secured a partial reciprocity proved the adequacy of 
the remedy if fully and properly applied. 

In 1874 President Grant, in furtherance of this policy. 

g tiated a treaty establishing in part substantially what is 

now proposed. The treaty, which was negotiated by President 

Grant and Secretary Fish on the one hand, and Sir Edward 



. I rt. Science, Literature, and Commerce. / 

Thornton and the Hon. George Brown, Commissioners for the 
Provinces and Great Britain on the other hand, contained the 
following propositions, I quote from a report semiofficially 
submitted by Mr. Brown to the Canadian Senate: 

"The draft treaty embraces ten propositions: I. The 
concession to the United States of our fisheries for twenty-one 
years, and the abandonment of the Washington treaty arbitra- 
tion. 2. The admission into both countries, duty free, of cer- 
tain natural products therein named. 3. The admission, duty 
free, of certain manufactured articles therein named. 4. The 
enlargement of our Welland and St. Lawrence canals. 5. The 
construction of the Caughnawaga and Whitehall canals. 
6. The free navigation of the great inland lakes and of the St. 
Lawrence River. 7. The concession to each other, on equal 
terms, of the use of the Canadian, New York and Michigan 
canals. 8. The reciprocal admission of vessels built in one 
of the countries to all the advantages of registry in the other. 

9. The formation of a joint commission to secure the efficient 
lighting of the great inland waters common to both countries. 

10. The formation of a joint commission to promote the pro- 
tection and propagation of fish on the great inland waters 
common to both countri 

The proposed Caughnawaga canal was intended to connect 
the St. Lawrence river at Montreal with the northern end of 
Lake Champlain. The Whitehall canal was intended to connect 
the Hudson river at Troy with Lake Champlain at Whitehall. 
By referring to the list of articles covered by this treaty, 
it will be seen that it is free from one of the objections con- 
tained in the reciprocity treaty ol proposed to 



f88 .\'<\v Papers on Canadian r/istorw 

admit into the Canadian markets the products oi our factories. 
which were excluded by the treaty oi 1S54. The list covered 
by the treat)' is as follows: Agricultural implements, of all 
kinds; axles, of all kinds; boots and shoes, of leather: boot 
and shoemaking machines ; buffalo robes, dressed and trimmed ; 
cotton grain bags; cotton denims; coton jeans, unbleached; 
COttOll drillings, unbleached; cotton plaids; cotton ticking; 
COttonacks, unbleached; cabinet ware or furniture, or parts 
thereof: carriages, carts, wagons and other wheeled vehicles or 
sleighs, or parts thereof; fire-engines, or parts thereof; felt 
covering for boilers ; gutta-percha belting and tubing; iron — 
bar. hoop, pig, puddled, rod. sheet or scrap ; iron nails, spikes, 
bolts, tacks, braids, or springs, iron-castings; India-rubber belt- 
ing and tubing; locomotives for railways, or parts thereof: 
lead, sheet or pig: leather, sole or upper ; leather, harness or 
saddler\ : mill or factor)- or steamboat fixed engines and 
machines, or parts thereof; manufactures of marble, stone, 
slate, or granite; manufactures of wood solely, or of wood 
nailed, bound, hinged, or locked with metal materials ; mangles. 
washing machines, wringing machines, drying machines, or parts 
thereof ; printing paper for newspapers ; paper-making machines, 
oi' parts thereof: printing type, presses and folders, paper cut- 
ters, ruling machines, page-numbering machines, and stereo- 
typing and electrotyping apparatus, or parts thereof: refriger- 
ators, or parts thereof; railroad cars, carriages and trucks, or 
paits thereof ; satinets of wool and cotton; steam-engines, or 
parts thereof: steel, wrought or cast, and steel-plates and rails; 
tin tubes and piping; tweeds, of wool solely; water-wheel 
machines and apparatus, or parts thereof. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 189 

It will be observed that the proposed treaty embn 

articles which arc in daily use among the people, and 
such as are needed in leading industries. It aimed specially to 
help those branches of industry in which the citizens of both 
countries were alike engaged in, and to exempt those articles in 
which considerable traffic was likely to take place. 

While commenting upon the merit of this treaty, a leading 
statesman of Canada, the Hon. G n, and as already 

stated one of the Commissioners for Great Britain, ^aid : 

" The fir nd and seventh propositions go naturally 

together, and they need no comment. They embrace simply 
the conditions of the old treat}' of 1834, which operated so 
favorably for us, and so much more favorably for the United 
States. I will leave it for the present and return to it again. 

" The fourth proposition — for the enlargement of our 1 
ing canals — is one eminently for the advantage of the United 
States, and involves a very large expenditure on our part. It 
is impossible to estimate the enormous annual gains that mu-,t 
result to the farmers of the Western States, when vessels of 
1,000 and 1,200 tons shall be able to load in the upper lake 
ports and sail direct to Liverpool — free from transhipment 
expenses, brokers' commissions, way-harbor dues, and ocean 
port-charges, and return direct to the prairies with hardy 
emigrants and cargoes of European merchandise. Canada, no 
doubt, would have her share of benefit from all this — but it 
could not be compared for a moment with that of the great 
Northwestern and some of the Middle St 

•' The fifth proposition — for the construction of the Caugh- 
nawaga canal— would be also an immense boon to the United 



A - ( • ■ • • 

vn up 1 
N< Eng the first tim< tct watei . 

mun i \ ith the great West would enable 

them to load shi-. »s is at . Champlain ports 

with merchaiM s< States and bring them back 

eighte* hen the Whitehall c 

should K enlarges the improvements of the 

mdson completed 1 in the wide 

so g syst« .t intern 

> that, stretching as : ntinuous 

ship channel n N« the At... 

— - - g I : tceasl s* I the 

R ckyMounta is. ( s her shan profit 

in all this. g .: lumber in:, ests d its 

ches ..Id find full . tag« tnd the enterpris- 

ig irmers of the midland si counties 

£ the N< gland market, with its thr^ 

half mill: s during population onto their t: 

" The sixth prop - : 
the inla: coasting id nothing could be « lore 

nore profitable to both parties. Our seas 

ikes is sfc I -the pressure : essels 
part.. es rimes is great th sides 

the'.. sights . is nable rates. Cheap 

is . Sl on in t': - ..rnindu- 

surd than to s* 
untitles luce lying unshippe. 

essefe . . - . . g i 1 : : s cannot t e sight 
from one port tc ther in the s :ry : What the 



ArL Science y Literature < and Commerce. i<ji 

United States could fear from the competition of our limited 
marine with the 5,570 vessels of all kinds and an aggregate 
tonnage of 788,000 tons, it is difficult to imagine. 

"The eighth proposition — for the reciprocal admission of 
vessels built in either country to registry in the other — is gen- 
erally regarded as highly advantageous to this country, and no 
doubt such is the fact. But I confess I cannot see why it 
ought not to be regarded as infinitely more advantageous to 
the United States. During the civil war the merchant ve 
of the Republic were sold in large numbers to foreign owners, 
and acquired foreign registers, and notwithstanding that ship- 
building had almost disappeared from the United States in 
consequence of an extreme protectionist policy, the law abso- 
lutely forbade their being brought back or vessels of foreign 
build being purchased in their stead. The consequence is that, 
at this moment, nearly the entire passenger traffic of the 
Atlantic is in the hands of foreigners — a vast portion of the 
freight of merchandise from and to foreign countries is also in 
the hands of foreigners — and only two months ago we had the 
startling statement made officially by Mr. Bristow, the very 
able Secretary of the United States Treasury, that no I 
sum than $100,000,000 is paid annually by the people of the 
United States to foreign ship-owners for freights and fare-. 
Now, a large portion of these ships, which the people of the 
United States require so urgently, can be as well built in 
St. John and Halifax and Quebec, and at st than in any- 

other country. Why, then, deprive the American citizens of 
the privilege of buying them from us and sailing them as their 
own ? We are told that American shipbuilding is reviving ; 



ty the most s iguine 
m - . : • the « d tear 

s, much less begin to > ~ 

. 

tenth pr, sab an 
ssions 

as corns countries; but 

- - - erenc* i i doubt of 

theg a 

I " 
s 
the Senat* the 

so nent th 

k - . - g the c 
:>een. Had the 

si brilliant 
ould 
- - - - - - lie . . . - . i : . 

thful £ the I 

ss» In course i - . 

■ 4 have becooH - . - gi 

our system ses s— s stem which 

coma oh ive lemahM 

■ OS - 

States 
• - . _ [ ss 
gr f . _ and 



. I rt Science. Literature, and Commerce. 

-tricted trade and commerce between the sixty millio: 

le of the United nd the five mill: 

who are not only our kinsmen, but our nearest neighb 
in fact, to all intents and purposes, of our very hou-ehold. 
Though somewhat crude, the bill clear!. the w; : 

attain the object in view. 

It i ;d that ther ne dpubl how this 

proposition would be received by the American people. I 
let me tell you that it is not a party question, and that it ha- 
been received with general fa he leading journals of the 

land. It is a proposition above the level of mere partisan 

iiency. and it appeals to a higher motive and n 
ambition. It is a question of public policy affecting the people 

th sections, and will nsidered by our people. It 

involves, of course, a revision of our tariff, and this ma;. 
a part)' aspect n that score it may b :d by those who 

are reaping large benefits from industry which are specially 
and extravagantly protected. H not in. 

the abandonment of either free-trade or protective the 
Whether it is made a party question or not, the party lines 
cannot be drawn closely when the question nted for 

action. There are times in the United States — even when 
party feeling runs high — when the whippers-in, detailed for the 
service, are incapable of either muzzling their partisa: 

ntrol their votes. I have even - reason to believe 
that the policy adopted by our government in the matter of 
establishing reciprocity with Canada will appeal to the inde- 
pendence of our law-makers, and that caucuses, which have 



V . :. . •). 

mtage, u ill not be allowed 

Congrt ss 

SI iissing this qi est we have to bear in mind the 

conditions of the two countries. The territory 

- interlocked with our own. The rivers and lakes 

- union highways traffic and tra — the 

adian public highways s ours. Fhere- 

e, the re'.r. ur territ, o! Canada, the 

hit rivers, the natural facilit es 

ges suggest . . . unhanv 

The re- iirces ealth, 

: the mat trials ■ . - . eople, are 

v^n the other hand, we have an exhaustless su] 
ngs which are prominently indis - le to the 

in neighbors. Hence 
ges to be derives ee< i cia nU course. 

We s cross th< cean, but with 

our id kinsmen. 

I my pu: sties Statistics 

and unk— studio mislead. It 

hgun a iy be ma most 

ninably. It is chief)} with the ph - the sit 

1 purpose ght. 

am the st urs and cents t 

study the - st, let me is 

the s to the cont with whose inu ests 

deal 

the matt« revenue 

the support g nent, 1 nstst that unless it be 



./;-/. Sciend L ' mtnerce. 

the i. of both government ifice the inl 

the many for enriching the few, thi :n which 

compel* our l fifty 

milli' ' for the privile, 

supplying to the cit:/ the Unil 

nfort and p y, and which on the 

other hand compeU the citizens of the Unite' ,ay a 

am into the public -da for the privilege 

anadians living .nary 

line, I ->ay tl bsolutely defenceless, inexcusable. 

•ricient to sh n if it was a fact, that certain 

indu * must be shown that 

tern promotes the general good. In other to be 

equitable, the pi ty resulting from any governrr. 

m must KMtanittc itizen. The 

m if at all defei >n account of ne» 

nue. 

.lust rate the character of the trade between the United 
States and Canada, I have procured a statement of the imports 
from Canada and the ex; :nce the 

to 1878 inclusive ng the period of partial recipro- 

city inaugurated in 1854, and which ended in 1 866. Of her 
products. Canada the United States in round numbers, 

during that pei - "00,000,000 worth — lumber or timber head- 
ing the list. During the same period we ex; nada 
$848,000 *h of our good-. I -hould be glad to learn 
how either Canadian or Yankee prospered by r • the 
immense tax levied upon th'. nported. 
ould be glad to learn of the bl derived through 



ig6 Neiu Papers on Canadian History, 

paying for duties one-third of the value of the goods so 
exchanged? How our people were benefitted? Those who 
used these goods in this country or Canada, paid for them 
a price largely in excess of their value, because they were 
produced on one or the other side of an imaginary line 
which marks the frontier between the United States and 
Canada. Certainly that in this instance protection is inap- 
plicable and detrimental. 

I am a protectionist. We are largely indebted to that 
system for the marvelous development of our industrial arts. 
One article in my political confession of faith favors the 
protection of infant industries, so that they may acquire suffi- 
cient strength to enable them to stand independently in the 
field of competition. But that article of faith, mark you, only 
refers to infant industries, and not to full-grown industries 
capable of maintaining themselves against all competitors. To 
protect industries without reference to condition is to create 
monopolies, the over-weening influence of which would be 
more dangerous to liberty than the crown of a queen. 

My countrymen would deserve contempt if they sought 
protection against Canadian competition, and — with all due 
respect for the worthy gentlemen who met at Toronto to speak 
about the manufactures of Canada — I have as little consider- 
ation for the Canadians who pretend that their countrymen are 
lacking the ability, the enterprise, the resources necessary to 
hold their own against the United States in any field of indus- 
trial effort. In my judgment, protection between the United 
States and Canada means no more and no less than the taking of 
money from the pocket of one citizen and of putting it into 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iyj 

the pocket of another, the latter belonging to the protected 
and favored class. 

As stated in my opening remarks, protection, as I under- 
stand it, relates to and deals with unequal conditions, and has 
no other just mission than to equalize those conditions. It is 
not intended to harden the lot of the many in order that the 
few should rejoice in prosperity. To protect one class of 
citizens against another class, in any field of effort where the 
conditions are identical, is wholly defenceless. In my opinion, 
nothing is easier than to defend the protective system of the 
United States against competition from the old world. It 
would certainly be difficult to explain a similar system between 
the Eastern and Western or the Northern and Southern sections 
of the United States, and such a system is equally indefensible 
when applied between Canada and the United States. 

I refer to this matter at this time because my position on 
the question of a commercial union is in perfect harmony with 
my convictions upon the subject of protection, inasmuch 
as I am a protectionist of a somewhat ultra school. I contend, 
and the matter is too clear to need argumentation, that there- 
is as little reason, abstractedly, to restrict or in any wise hamper 
the trade between the United States and Canada as there- 
would be in imposing similar restrictions and burthens upon 
trade between the inhabitants of Ohio and those of Illinois and 
Iowa. I have already stated that a protective tariff must 
have for its sole object the equalization of abnormal conditions. 
If it be true that prosperity comes simply through a protective 
tariff, without reference to general conditions, and that we 
become rich and prosperous by levying duties upon all we buy, 



igS New Papers on Canadian History, 

provided it is produced elsewhere, while being fenced by the 
same operation out of every market to which we should sell, 
then why should not each State in this Union become speedily 
rich and prosperous by simply erecting a tariff fence as between 
itself and the other States of the Union? It is true the 
Constitution forbids this, but I am discussing the abstract 
proposition. As a measure, if it is justifiable in the case of 
Canada, because it insures prosperity to its people adopting it, 
why is it not equally admissible between the various States? 
They might become prosperous by adopting that system against 
sister States, and since prosperity is one of the high-roads to 
happiness, have we not found out the royal road to prosperity 
and happiness by taxing ourselves and recognizing the right of 
our neighbors to tax us also ? What has been heretofore 
considered a burden, would become at once a help and support ! 
The principle applied to Quebec and Ontario and the other 
Provinces would make them speedily prosperous. It is what 
Mr. Wiman described as the process of taxing one's self rich. 
Unless it can be shown that there is something in the 
situation and condition of Canada which makes the case 
exceptional, and takes it out of the comparison I have drawn. 
the system we have pursued against our neighbors, and they 
against us, is as indefensible as it would be for Pennsylvania 
to seek the prosperity of all her people by a protective tariff 
against Illinois — Illinois being more largely an agricultural 
State than Pennsylvania ; or, to put the case more strongly, as 
indefensible as it would be for Illinois to establish a tariff for 
the benefit of her citizens against Connecticut and Massachu- 
setts, the latter being manufacturing States while the former is 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce* igg 

largely agricultural. Careful students arc aware that the laws 
of compensation are immutable. Trade and commerce seek 
natural channels : manufactures ultimately will, other things 
being equal, locate nearest the base of raw supplies, otherwise 
it would involve the shipping of material a thousand miles to be 
first manufactured and then the reshipment of the finished pro- 
duct over the same line to find a market. 

In so far as the citizens of the United States are concerned, 
what are the objections to commercial union? I hear and know 
of none except some of a local character. It may not be amiss 
here to call attention to the fact that one of the leading states- 
men of the day, one who has filled possibly a larger place in 
the public mind than almost any other man of our day — I 
allude to James G. Blaine — has advocated, and most ably, a 
commercial union between the United States and the South 
American States. His proposition met with general favor, and 
was not considered as a mere party question. If great advant- 
ages are to be derived from a commercial union with South 
American States, how much greater and important are the 
advantages to be gained from intimate trade relations with 
those upon our immediate border and to whom we are allied 
by ties stronger than those which relate merely to commerce, 
and with whom our trade, although they number but five 
millions, is larger than that of the forty-five millions lying 
south of us and with whom a commercial union is proposed. 
I will submit a statement which indicates how much more 
valuable Canada is to the United States as a market than all 
the realms lying south of the Rio Grande, including Mexico 
and the South American States. 



200 New Papers on Canadian History, 

During the year 1885 tne United States sold to all the 
Central and South American States but $27,000,000 in round 
numbers, and to all countries south of the Rio Grande, an 
aggregate of $64,000,000. To the 45,000,000 of people in the 
south we sold $64,000,000, while to the 5,000,060 of Canadians 
we sold over $50,000,000. 

If our hampered and restricted trade with 5,000,000 
Canadians now reaches over $50,000,000, what will be its 
extent when the blockade is removed, and when our neighbors 
shall number 25,000,000 of people? 

Do American manufacturers fear competition ? Certainly 
not. Do American manufacturers and merchants desire the 
Canadian market with its great possibilities ? Certainly they 
do. Does the American farmer fear the competition of the 
Canadian farmer? The proposition is simply absurd. No 
possible conflict of interest on those scores. On the contrary, 
experience abundantly proves that unrestricted and direct 
exchange between the sources of supply in either country would 
give a new impetus to every branch of trade and industry and 
result in a great era of prosperity to both nations. In this 
connection it may be well to note that we are accustomed to 
explain to the agriculturist, and to all those interested in the 
tilling of the soil, that their prosperity has been brought around 
by the protective system which made markets for their grain 
and other products. In a great measure this is indisputable. But 
if we examine the statistics which furnish us with the range of 
prices for farm products during the last sixty years, we find 
that, whatever may have happened to other branches of industry 
the prices for farm products have not substantially advanced. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 20/ 

To prove the correctness of my assertion I will read to you 
a list of the prices which obtained at various times during .1 
period of sixty years. 

I quote New York prices and take them from the Trade 
Reports: For instance, in 1825 the price of flour in New York 
ranged from $3.50 to §4.25 a barrel. At the close of the 
following five years, that is in [830, from $4.75 to $6 a barrel. 
In 1835, from $5.37 to ^7.$; ; and in [840, from S4.62 to $6.50; 
and in 1845, from $4.3] to *7 : in 1850, from $4.93 to $6.25 ; 
in i860, from $4.25 to $5.25 ; in 1870, from $4.50 to $6.05; in 
1880, from S3. 75 to $5.75; in 1885, from $2.90 to $3.70, and 
in 1886, from $2.65 to $3.50. 

If we turn our attention to the article of fish, with its 
flavor of actuality, we find that the price of mackerel in 1825 
was from $5 to $5.75 per barrel. In 1835, it was from $6 to 
$8.25; in 1845, from $11.50 to $14; in [855, from $18 to $22 ; 
in 1865, from $15 to $25 ; in 1875, from $7 to $24; in 1885. 
from $14 to $24; and in 1886. from $15 to §29. Compared to 
the farming industry, it is difficult to see how the fishing 
industry has suffered. The range of prices has been decidedly 
in favor of the fisherman. 

Let us consider the article of beef, mess beef. 'I he range 
of prices by the barrel has been about the same. In 1825, from 
$8 to $10; in 1835, from $8 to $13.50. In 1843 it was lower— 
from $5. 50 to $9.75 ; in 1855, from §8.25 to $14; in 1865, which 
was during the war, it ranged from $9 to §14; in 1875, from 
$8 to $10; in 1885, from $10 to $16; and in 1886, from $5 to 
$12. The range of price in hams has varied but little. 

Corn has ranged about the same for the last sixty years. 



A.;. Papers on Ca km 'tan Hist, 

All those figures relate to the New York market. The opening 
of th< g .mercial channels — railroads and canals — has 

resulted in equalizing prices, so that to-day it is no longer 
profitable to burn corn in the great W 

In wheat the g prices has not been any more 

favorable to the farmer. The price ranging from 7; cents $1.06 
in 1825 ■ in 83 I 1 o;;_- cents in 188 

Mess pork ranged from $12 to $ 14-75 m 1 % 2 S '■ :roni $9 
1 1 4.50 in 1885, and $10 to $12.50 in 1 88 

In the meantime, fanners and producers generally have 
had: ; argt .crease in the ates tges. True, on the 

other hand, that the facilities for farming have also greatly 
increased, - much sc man can double or triple 

the task that he could accomplish formerly : thus reducing to a 
minimum the apparent increase in wages 

It must not be forgotten that certain climateric cone 
rting the fanner may come to pass which no system or le- 
gisla: can c ntrol — the rain and the sunshine — his crop de- 
pends upon the earlier or the latter rains. Nor can any s\ - 
of law regulate the 1 case of a drouth or a super- 

abund rain ; not so with the ma ..rer. because the 

prod. ry can be controlled, the output linn 

and the ces :ennined. The competi: s : he American 
tanner for the European market are not to be found in C 
da. but in India and Russia. During the v ada pro- 

: . only about seven per cent f the win g n on the 
N rth Ame rinent. 

The ck igt affect undoubtedly some special interests 

but 1 not believe that the hshing interest will be s< 



. lrt. Science* Literature, and Commerce. 20J 

crippled : nor can I concede that the fishing fleet which 
supplies the army or the militia of the sea will suffer from 
a fair competition between the Canadians and the New Eng- 
land fishermen. If, under such conditions and with fair compe- 
tition, we cannot hold our own on sea and land, the fault must 
be attributed to conditions which are not to be righted by the 
levy of a tax increasing the price of every codfish-ball and every 
mackerel which is placed upon our table. 

So far as the timber interest is concerned it has no proper 
place in our system of protection, the object of which is to 
build up industries. But, unfortunately for the timber industry 
of this country, the more it is protected, the more it is cherished, 
the more speedily it dies, and we are and have been taxing 
ourselves upon every shingle we use and every beam that we 
require to construct a dwelling, not to make strong an industry 
that will flourish and grow, and furnish a more ample yield, 
but simply to pay a bonus to certain individuals who have 
prospered beyond measure, and without any corresponding 
benefit to the great mass of the people of this country upon 
whom the tribute is levied. 

The Canadian forests are almost limitless. Their timber is 
rotting and going to waste, while the citizens of the United 
States are paying enormous prices for a supply to construct 
houses and mak'e shingles to cover their heads, and thousands 
of mechanics are idle for want of the material — lumber — to 
enable them to prosecute their calling. Idle men on both sides 
of the line is the direct and necessary result of our absun: 
tern. It is not only absurd, but an outrage upon our people, 
when one or two industries are permitted, nay, authorized for 



20-f. New Papei's on Canadian History, 

their own benefit, to tax every other vocation, trade and calling 
in this country, and thus impose needless burthens. The time 
has come when both burdens and blessings should be more 
equitably distributed, and what is proposed here is a step in 
that very direction. 

Now, with your indulgence, I will consider for a moment 
the objections raised by our friends across the line to the con- 
summation of full and complete reciprocity. First, they object 
to it by saying that such a system would be destructive to the ma- 
nufacturing interests of Canada. Second, that it would be trea- 
son against the mother country ; that it is, in fact, the essence 
of disloyalty, and that its ultimate result would be annexation 
to and absorption by the United States. Lastly, it is urged 
that the mercantile interests of Canada would suffer, and that 
drummers from New York and Boston would absolutely destroy 
the trade of Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Hamilton and the 
other leading cities of the Dominion ; that the revenues of 
Canada would be lost. 

I notice, Mr. Chairman, that a leading journal of Toronto 
remarks that you and I were born twenty-five years too late 
for all purposes of reciprocity and commercial union between 
Canada and the United States ; and in the same article it is sug- 
gested that a quarter of a century ago this matter might have 
been favorably considered, but now it cannot be. Attention is 
called in this connection to the fact that there must be borne 
in mind "the expenditure of the past twenty years in railroad 
construction, in acquiring territory, and in various ways having 
in view inter-provincial trade and the development of Canadian 
national sentiment through closer inter-provincial commercial 



.//7, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 205 

relations, the purpose being to do away with unnatural barriers, 
and allow each Province to cultivate the trade adjacent to it." 
The argument submitted by the learned editor defeats itself. 
The only purpose of improving the railroad system of either 
country, and of improving the water-ways, is to enable the produ- 
cers to reach the markets of the world. If they serve any other 
proper purpose it is difficult to understand what it is. 

It is also suggested, as a part of the criticism of the policy 
of reciprocity, that the system and efforts before referred to — 
improved agencies for commercial intercourse —were made to 
do away with the unnatural barriers between the Provinces 
and to cultivate the trade adjacent to them. This is pertinent, 
and suggests that all barriers that block the natural highways 
of trade and commerce should be removed. It suggests also 
that it is natural and proper to cultivate trade which is near at 
hand rather than seek distant markets, especially when better 
ones lay at our very doors. This is precisely the object for 
which patriots on both sides of the line, in Canada and the 
United States, are struggling. 

The point made in the same article, that drummers from 
New York and Boston would destroy the mercantile business 
of Canada, is hardly worth considering. The argument has 
been met and answered a hundred times, and the experience 
of every-day life absolutely shows how fallacious it is. If the 
objections mentioned were well taken, it must follow that there 
would not be a healthful mercantile business carried on in any 
of the cities of the great West. Certainly New York and Boston 
would have no advantages over Canadian cities that they do 
not have over the towns and cities of the <jreat West. To 



2o6 New Pape Canadian History y 

pretend that the rival competition oi New York and Boston 
would destoy the mercantile interests of Canada is tantamount 
to asserting that the merchants oi Canada and Canadian enter- 
prise belong to a former century, and to a people who do not 
possess the aggressive energy and merit to compete with all 
comers in an even field of business venture. 

I: will be remembered, in this connection, that there was 
at one time, among men representing important eastern 
interests, much opposition to the enlargement of the facilities 
for transportation along the line of our northern frontier, 
whether by our Canadian friends or our own people ; it being 
urged that it would open up a line of travel, a commercial 
highway if you please, which would cripple the middle and 
southern lines of trade and commerce. Time has demonstrated 
the absolute falsity of this pretension Men have only to 
rightly consider the elements entering into the solution of 
these various problems to discover that the law of compensation 
operates everywhere. 

It is urged by certain honorable gentlemen in Canada, and 
by some in this country, as an objection to the measure, that 
the move in the direction of commercial union seeks ultimately, 
and has. in fact, for its prime object, the annexation of Canada 
to the United States. Do gentlemen believe that annexation 
would follow commercial union? If so. upon what do they 
base their conclusion ? Does Canadian prosperity involve 
annexation to the United States? Does Canadian prosperity 
involve disloyalty to the British crown : If so. why ? Is there 
anything in the relations of Canada to the mother country 
which suggests that prosperity can only come to Canadians by 



Art, Science, Literature* and "Commerce. 207 

severing their connection with the English government? It 
would seem that gentlemen who insist that prosperity means 
annexation must conclude that annexation is indispensable to 
Canadian prosperity and happiness. I do not agree with them. 
Canadians are satisfied with their form of government, and 
there is no desire on this side to change it, nor yet to have 
them adopt any one phase of our own. We can work out our 
destinies side by side. That in many respects, we must and 
will have one common destiny, I have no doubt. We are- 
one people to all intents and purposes, so far as Christian 
civilization and the end it seeks is concerned ; and, so far as 
the things to be attained by the growth and extension of that 
civilization require a common purpose and a common effort, 
we will, whatever the respective forms of government under 
which we live, be one people. Commercial union is in no wise 
inseparable from annexation. One does not involve the other, 
unless the fact that such a union banishes all possibilitv of 
attrition between the two countries and puts the seal to a bond 
of perpetual peace between them, can be construed as evidence 
of a desire for annexation. 

I may here call the attention of the honorable members of 
this Club to a few facts bearing upon the history of Canada and 
her relations to Great Britain. I have already alluded to it. 
Gentlemen, of course, are aware that the tie which binds us to 
Canada has little to do with commerce — nor do I speak now of 
political relations proper, but of those relations that grow out of 
kinship, similar language and similar religion — all of which have 
little relationship to commercial intercourse. If Canada finds 
no closer tie between her people and those from whom they are 



2 8 New Papers on Canadian History, 

nded than that which is born of trade and commerce, it is 
a matter of little consequence how soon those ties are severed. 
The history of Canada and o\ the United States, so far as 
England is concerned, is identical. The record of the history 
of Canada during the last half century discloses the fact that 
her complaints against the mother country have been similar in 
character to those which compelled the American colonies to 
petition for redress of grievances. Canada complained of the 
navigation laws so far as they were applied to her. Those laws 
were modified or absolutely changed. She insisted that it was 
her right to have her internal policy regulated by represen- 
tatives chosen by the people who were to be affected by that 
policy. That privilege was also conceded. She demanded, 
furthermore, the right to collect and disburse her revenue 
according to her own ideas of internal economy. That also was 
conceded her. She asked, in effect, that she should be 
sovereign, within her borders, upon all matters pertaining to 
the civil administration. That too was conceded, and these 
just concessions — barring the mere matter of kinship, the ties 
of common ancestry, of a common religion if you please, and 
of those ties which naturally grow from similar institutions, 
and. as I believe, from a common destiny — have above all 
else preserved to this day. among Canadians, the spirit of 
perfect loyalty toward Great Britain. 

The fear that Canada will be absorbed by the United 
States, or that she will lose her independence and dignity as a 
sovereign nation, is absurd in itself. Whether she shall stand 
among the nations of the earth, great, rich and independent, 
will depend upon the character of her people and the manner 



Art, Science % Literature^ and Commerce. 2og 

in which she utilizes her vast resources. Her mineral wealth 
invites the most desirable immigration. Her vast forests are 
only awaiting for hardy pioneers of enterprising spirits to pursue 
the various avocations dependent upon a supply of timber 
The same is true of her other resources. 

I observe also that it is asserted by some writers in the 
Canadian press that an arrangement, such as the one contem- 
plated, would be in the nature of an alliance offensive and 
defensive with the L'nited States as against Great Britain. 
This is so far from being the case that the assertion must be 
regarded as an appeal to prejudices rather than an appeal to 
the intelligent judgment of our Canadian friends. 

It is not for the mere advantage which is to be computed 
by dollars and cents that, as an American citizen, I urge full 
reciprocity with Canada. It is to secure, not a bond of 
political union, but a bond which will keep the English- 
speaking race one people now and for all times to come, and 
enable it to fulfill its mission by developing the highest and 
best form of civilization the world has ever known. 

The resolution adopted by the gentlemen who met in 
Toronto, asserts : " That unrestricted reciprocity in manufac 
tured goods would be a serious blow at the commercial 
integrity of the Dominion, and would result disastrously tc 
their manufacturing and farming industries and other financial 
and commercial interests." The farmers, at least, had spoken 
for themselves, and their resolution was certainly the out- 
growth of intelligent investigation and a just appreciation of 
what was essential to create prosperous conditions. I doubt 
whether the honorable gentlemen who adopted that resolution 



210 New Papers on Canadian History, 

represent the sentiments of a very large portion of those among 
the people of Canada who, in the last resort, are to bear the 
burthens of what is dubbed the N. P., in other words the 
National Policy of Protection. 

Did it ever occur to our manufacturing friends in Toronto 
that the resources at their command, which are almost illimi- 
table, must attract in their midst that activity and energy which, 
after all, makes a country great and prosperous? That such 
would be the final result all history abundantly attests. Possibly, 
Mr. Chairman, if reciprocity had obtained twenty-five years 
ago, we would not have be honored by your presence and mas- 
terly entreprise in New York. In fact, this Club might not 
have been in existence. The energy which you have put forth 
here would have found such profitable employment on the 
other side of the line that you would not have come among 
us ; but your friendship for us, and ours for you, would not 
have been a whit lessened by the fact of the prosperity which 
waited upon each country. 

Whatever may be said to the contrary, I take it from the 
discussions in the English Parliament that England will not 
feel greatly disturbed over a commercial union between Canada 
and the United States. Able discussions in that body, as to the 
effect of protective tariffs, indicate that it is the opinion of 
English statesmen that whatever advantage may accrue to the 
protected country, if any, no disavantage will result to England. 
Such is the statement made by Mr. Chamberlain, and his state- 
ment is supported by figures, cited in his speech of August 12, 
1 88 1, in reply to an Address from the throne which urged 
retaliatory measures against nations exacting high duties on 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 211 

goods imported from England. I have here the speech of Mr. 
Chamberlain, and have been interested in observing how 
thoroughly his conclusions are sustained by the statistics he 
cites. I regret that I have not time to read portions of it. 

I think careful investigation will demonstrate that indus- 
tries which in Canada should need protection against European 
competition would, in the United States, require an equal 
protection ; and that a protective system which in its operation 
would be of benefit to Canada would be equally beneficial to 
the United States, and vice versa. Duties would, of course, 
in a large proportion, be levied according to the amount of 
revenue necessary, the protection in a large mesure would be 
merely incidental. 

It is suggested by certain gentlemen, and I speak of this 
because I am addressing Canadians, that the proper thing 
would be a reciprocal arrangement between England and 
Canada through which the former should discriminate against the 
farm produce of other countries. This would be a very remark- 
able proceeding indeed, as it would add to the price of food 
on every laborer's table in England in order to obtain a market 
for the output of British factories. Outside of the indefen- 
sibility of such a scheme, it is unlikely that England would 
consent to tax the bread and potatoes and the meat of her 
workmen merely to attain the possible advantage of a new 
market in which to sell the products of her shops. 

So far as the agricultural interests of this country and 
Canada are concerned, it must be conceded that they are not 
susceptible to secure a hearing with the same ease as the 
manufacturers, the merchants and financiers who are more 



212 New Papers on Canadian History. 

immediately connected with trade and commerce. The 
cities are centres of political influence, and also centres of trade 
and financial power : therefore, those interests, that are the 
competitors of agriculture, not only have more ready access to 
the public ear. but they have morever the sympathies of those 
who command the most ready means for controlling- the 
current of public thought. 

1 would call the attention of the speakers at the late 
manufacturers' convention at Toronto, and the editors who 
echo the sentiments that have been expressed there, that the 
prosperity they would secure to Canada by defeating any 
attempt at reciprocity, unless it be one-sided, would be a pros- 
perity of such a character that it could not be shared in 
generally by the mass of the people on either side of the line. 

The time has come when the burthens and blessings incident 
to national development and healthful growth must, as nearly 
as possible, be shared equally by all : and I think we may 
rejoice in the fact that the farmers, artisans and producers in 
Canada and the United States will no longer, without rebuke. 
permit those who alone profit by a protective system which 
does not deal with and correct unequal conditions, to assume 
to represent and speak for all who have a right to be heard 
upon the subject. 

It is impossible to see how any Canadian or American 
interest could suffer by the establishment of an active and 
healthful trade between the two nations. It is equally difficult 
to see how a growing tide, swelling every artery of commerce, 
reaching from every part of Canada to the markets of the 
United States, and from even- part of the producing sections 



Art % Science. Literature, aiid Commerce. 213 

of the United State- to Canada, and meeting the demar. 
the people, could injure any business interest fit to survive. 
To my mind at least, such an assertion is absurd, and I greatly 
doubt if it has its origin in a patriotic love of country. There 
is about it a savor, if not a posit -'.lfish 

inter 

I note what is said touching the destructive influence that 
free international commerce would have upon the fisheries and 
some other industries. It is asserted with great force, and 
seemingly the assertion is sustained by statistics, that free 
fisheries mean the absolute destruction of American fishing 
inter 

In reply, I have to state that if the American fisherman, 
when placed upon equal terms, is unable to compete with 
the fisherman of Canada, it does not prove the former's 
inferiority in any respect, nor his inability to accomplish what 
the Canadian, under similar circumstances, can accomplish. 
It only proves that there is something wrong in our policy or 

:ne part of our governmental machinery : it proves that 
oppression in that business drives from its arena Yankee com- 
petition hopeless and crushed, and that the remedy must be 
sought in some other direction, as it assuredly cannot be 
found in driving such competition from our midst by oppre 
legislation. 

- are unable to hold our own in the field of open, 
free and equal competition, we had better improve our stock. 
I am for America and American institutions and interests, first, 
last and all the time, but that point is not at stake here. The 
question is how shall we build up every American int 



214 Mew Papers on Canadian History, 

worth cherishing, and how shall we avoid to build up one 
interest at the expense of the other, since we are aware that 
otherwise our industrial growth would be neither healthful or 
permanent ? 

It any industry in the United States cannot survive the 
competition of our immediate neighbors, only divided from them 
as we are by an imaginary line, the cause for such failure 
on our part must be sought in some unwise feature of our 
governmental policy, and not in the superior merit of our 
competitors in that industry or enterprise. Unless 1 am in 
this respect convicted of error. 1 am unwilling to admit 
inequality on our part with any nation in the world competing 
with us under circumstances substantially the same, and I 
would be ashamed of the Canadian who would not make a 
similar assertion concerning his countrymen. 

1 have already commented upon the proposition which 
pretends that it is the mission of the government to provide 
such artificial conditions that it shall be as profitable to culti- 
the impoverished soil of New England as it is that of 
the rich valleys of the Mohawk, or of the Scioto and the 
Wabash. 

In that respect I have only to say that the moment the 
government will make such an attempt. I will earnestly favor 
revolution. In this country we are not wanting in soil suffi- 
ciently rich to feed the world, and those sections which 
are not fit for profitable cultivation can be either abandoned, 
enriched by private enterprise, or used for other purposes than 
farming. 

Our transportation facilities are sufficient to feed those 



. /;V, Science. Literature, and Commerce. 215 

localities where the manufacturing industries arc located, 
law of compensation applies. If New K-ngland finds farming 
unprofitable, she can find profitable employment in vari< us 
kinds of manufacturing. Her pople. if not producer 
corn and wheat, are nevertheless producers of pious, hoe-. 
trace-chains, and thousands of other necessary articles. The 
genius of her sons has brought them riches, in fact, the}- are 
the bankers of the United States, and eastern thrift has been 
so great that the capitalists of that section hold mortgages 
a large percentage of the farms in the West. I trust that if the 
time has not yet come, that it is not far distant, when the govern- 
ment will be engaged in some other mission than that of 
multiplying blessings for the few through an inequitable dis- 
tribution of the public burthen-. 

This question should be considered by every board of 
trade, every chamber of commerce, every agricultural associa- 
tion, every society composed of manufacturers and producers 
generally. 

Congress has and will have no official judgment upon it. 
The boards and associations I have mentioned must do the 
legislating — Cong nly a sounding-board, a cave of echo< -, 

an assemblage of unpatented graphophone-s, repeating what is 
talked into them by the people. 

Congress is engaged for the most part in formulating into 
law the popular will, and by no means do I think the term 
" popular will " to be synonymous with intelligent public judg- 
ment. As individuals. Congressmen have intelligent convic- 
tion- : they are capable, conscientious men : but it is not their 
province to attempt to form or direct the public mind. Their 






A . :. Pap Canadian Hi> 



mission is spond to the public will. A Congressman's duty 

- I agree with. his constituents — this is the essence oi his 
political life — and it is not at all likely that he will eonsciously 
commit political suicide. 

It naturally follows that you are to determine for your- 
id the country whether the immense volume of our 
trade shall be dammed up and rolled back upon ourselves, 
and whether a system which smacks of a primitive period and 
a ruder and less advanced civilization, shall continue to dwarf 
our enterprise and retard our development. 






/hcaajL^ 



00 JOOOOOOOOOOOO 



OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO ooooooooooooo oooooooo 




I DOPOOOCO OCCOoOOCQ CO OOOOOOOOOOOOO ooooooooooocooooooooooocoocoo 



THE MINERAL RESOURCES OE CANADA. 



JOHN MfDOVGALL. 



i Read before Hit' Canadian Club 
i of New York. 



HOSE who are familiar with this 
subject know its vastness, and how 
impossible it will be to do it justice 
in the limited time at our disposal. 
We can only skim over it, and the 
references made to it will necessarily 
be imperfect. We can only give a 
passing glance at some of the prin- 
cipal minerals, and to present them 
in such a way as will impress you with the fact that Canada 
has the possession of untold wealth in them, and only waiting 
for the means for their development. 




2i8 New Papers on Canadian History^ 

The Laurentian range of rocks on the Atlantic coast, and 
running inland through the Provinces of New Brunswick. 
Quebec ,\\\^\ Ontario, are of the oldest known formation, and 
they contain almost all the known minerals. On the Pacific coast 
and throughout British Columbia and a portion of the North- 
west Territories, the rocks are similar to those of Nevada and 
Colorado. That immense territory presents to capitalists and 
miners a held for their enterprise, acknowledged to be. without 
any exception, the finest in the world : and no country is 
endowed with such magnificent waterways : these, in addition to 
our canals, and over 12.000 miles of railways, give easy access 
to nearly every part of the country, from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific. Mining in Canada has been carried on only to a 
limited extent thus far : lately, however, a great interest has 
been made manifest by the formation of new companies with 
large capital. We are satisfied, from what we know of existing 
companies, to predict good dividends for all investments made 
for the development of mines. 

I will touch on different minerals in alphabetical order, 
and will begin by drawing your attention first to — 

APATITE. 

Apatite is known in commerce as " Phosphates." It is 
generally of a greenish color and of a crystaline formation, and is 
found in great abundance in the Provinces of Ontario and 
Quebec. Apatite is used for the manufacture of phosphoric 
acid and phosphorus, and enters largely into the composition 
M certain porcelains. It is. besides, very extensively usee is a 



. Irt, Science, Literature, and Commerce* 2iy 

fertilizer of the soil. Phosphates are among the minerals mosl 
essential to vegetation, and are removed from the earth in large 
quantities by growing crops. To render it fit for agricultural 
purposes, it is converted into a soluble salt, which is known as 
superphosphate of lime. 

The apatites of Canada are the purest met with, analysis 
of cargoes running as high as 37 to 39 per cent, of phosphoric 
acid, equivalent to from 80 to 86 per cent, phosphate of lime ; 
the percentage shown is higher than that of any other country. 
The mines in the valley of the Ottawa River have become 
famous, and are extensively worked. This industry ranks now 
as a most important and profitable one. The output for the 
year 1885 was about 24,000 tons. 

ASBESTOS. 

Asbestos is the commercial name of a variety of the horn- 
blende family of minerals, of which the chemical composition 
is chiefly silica, magnesia, alumina and ferrous oxide. It is a 
fibrous mineral, noted for its power to resist fire and acids. 

Other uses to which it is put are fire-proof cements and 
putty, for joints, and in the manufacture of fire and acid-proof 
lumps, blocks and bricks. The ordinary gas fire is familiar to 
every one, and it will suffice to point out that asbestos enters 
largely into the composition of the artificial fuel upon which 
the success of the fire in a great measure depends. This mi- 
neral presents a very wide field for the inventive genius to open 
up a new process to dress it, so that it can be woven into fa- 
brics of every kind as easily as with cotton and wool, as well 



220 New Papers on Canadian History, 

as for many other purposes for which it might be made suita- 
ble. It is largely mined in the eastern townships of the Pro- 
vince of Quebec. 

ANTIMONY. 

Antimony is mined in the Province of New Brunswick. 
The Surveyor-General of that Province reported some years 
ago. that the mining companies there should be able to 
produce antimony at such a low rate, and in such quantities, 
as would place the Province among the great antimony- 
producing countries of the wold. Its analysis varies from 
61 to 69 per cent. It occurs also in the Province of Quebec, 
Megantic Count}-, both in the native state and as sulphurate. 

BARYTES. 

Barytes, or heavy spar of fine quality, is found in very 
great abundance in the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec and 
Nova Scotia. Very litlle has been done yet in mining this 
material except in Nova Scotia. 

BITUMINOUS SHALES. 

Extensive works were operated in Nova Scotia for the 
manufacture of oils from shale, but had to be abandoned in 
consequence of the heavy import duties imposed by the 
United States. The yield was about 60 gallons of oil from 
1 ton ; they were also capable of yielding 7,500 cubic feet of 
gas per ton. 



. Irt. Science, Literature, a)id Commerce. 221 



COAL. 



The coal area of Canada is very extensive — an approxi- 
mate estimate places it at 97,000 square miles. The Provinces 
of Xova Scotia. New Brunswick, and British Columbia, and 
the Northwest Territories, yield bituminous coal of excellent 
quality for steam, coking, and for gas. Anthracite coal is 
found in British Columbia and in the Northwest Territories. 
The consumption of coal in Canada is about 5,000,000 tons 
per annum, of which our mines supply only 3,000,000 tons, 
tlie balance of 2,000,000 is imported. 

A strange mineral, named albertite, was discovered at the 
Albert Mine, about the year 1850. It was regarded by some 
as a true coal, and by others as a variety of jet, and by others 
again, as related to asphaltum, because it resembles it in 
appearance, being very black, brittle, and lustrous, and desti- 
tute of structure. It differs from asphaltum in fu.-ibility, 
and in its relation to solvents ; it differs also from true coal in 
being of one quality throughout, and contains no trace of 
vegetable tissues ; its mode of occurrence is that of a vein, and 
not that of a true bed. The mineral has been exported to the 
United States for the manufacture of oils and of gas ; it is 
capable of yielding 100 gallons of crude oil per ton, and of 
14,500 cubic feet of gas, of superior illuminating power, per ton. 

< OPPER. 

Copper is stated to constitute one of the most important 
of the mineral treasures of the Dominion, and is said to 



222 New Papers on Canadian History. 

as widely distributed in nature as iron. It is found 
over wist tracts of country in Ontario, in the eastern town- 
ships of Quebec, in Nova Scotia, and British Columbia ; traces 
of it are met with in New Brunswick. The richest producing 
section is along" the northern shore of Lake Superior, where it 
frequently occurs in the form of native copper, in large masses. 
The next in importance are the deposits of the eastern town- 
ships, in Quebec. The copper ore here is similar in its structure 
and occurrence to those of Norway and Sweden, and is met 
with chiefly as a sulphurate in great abundance. The Geolo- 
gical Survey Report of 1866 enumerated the extraordinary 
number of 557 locations in the eastern townships. Companies 
were formed and mines were opened. Operations have been 
suspended by some, and others are working with varied results. 
Mining operations, of a somewhat extensive character, are in 
progress at Sydney, Cape Breton, where an assay made yielded 
54 oz. of silver. 1-5 oz. of gold, and 20 l : per cent, of copper, 
per ton of ore. 

GOLD. 

Gold is found in all the Provinces, except Prince Edward 
Island and New Brunswick. Gold mining is one of the princi- 
pal sources of wealth of the Provinces of Nova Scotia and Bri- 
tish Columbia. The gold fields of Nova Scotia are esti- 
mated to cover an area of from 6,000 to 7.000 square miles : 
they contain bands of gold-bearing rocks, with veins or 1< 
varying in thickness from a fraction of an inch to several feet. 
Ouartz mining has been carried on successfully, and gold, to 
the amount of ^S.ooo.ooo. has been taken out in this Province, 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 223 

from the year 1859 up to and including 1.XK5. All the gold 
produced in British Columbia has been from placer mines, 
which are worked along the banks and beds of the rivers and 
creeks at low water. The main auriferous belt runs from south 
east to northwest; the principal localities are Kootenay, Bi^ 
Bend, Cariboo, Omineca and Cassiar, where at present there is 
considerable excitement in gold mining; they have yielded, 
during the above mentioned period of time, about $50,000,000 ; 
this should indicate that gold in immense quantities must 
exist up in the mountains ; there are, however, differences 
of opinion about this. Several companies have lately been 
formed, with large capital, to carry on the business of quartz 
mining on an extensive scale. We learn from the latest 
reports that the prospects of success are not only sure, but 
exceedingly bright. 

GRAPHITE. 

Graphite is sometimes called plumbago or black-lead. 
These are misnomers, arising from the erroneous idea that 
lead enters into its composition. Graphite is recognized as a 
native form of carbon. Geologists are at variance concerning 
its probable origin. There are two distinct varieties : one is 
fine-grained and the other is foliated. Graphitiferous rocks of 
the Laurentian system are widely spread throughout Canada. 
The graphite of these rocks usually occurs in beds and seam-. 
varying in thickness from a few inches to three feet. The 
analysis of the Canadian product is almost identical with that 
of Ceylon (the finest in the world). Its freeness from lime 
makes it very valuable for making crucibles. Canada contain- 



224 New Papers on Canadian History, 

an almost inexhaustible quantity, scattered throughout the 
Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and 
Ontario. Very little has been done yet in working the mines. 

GYPSUM. 

The Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and 
Ontario, and the Northwest Territories, yield gypsum of a 
very fine quality, particularly Nova Scotia, where it is found 
in connection with the lower carboniferous limestones. There 
are two kinds, white and blue, the former being best adapted 
for making plaster of Paris, and the latter for making land 
plaster for agricultural purposes. Considerable quantities are 
shipped to the United States, besides what is required for 
home consumption. 87,644 tons were exported from Nova 
Scotia to the United States in 1885, and an average of about 
5,000 tons are shipped annually from the Grand River district, 
in Ontario, to the western part of the State of New York. 



IRON. 



Iron in unlimited quantities is found in all the Provinces 
and Territories of the Dominion; the country is pre-eminently 
rich in the ores of iron of every kind, and of the highest grade, 
equaling the Swedish and Russian in quality, and they are 
adapted for every purpose that iron and steel are used for. 
Nova Scotia is the richest in iron ores, and they are in close 
proximity to almost unlimited quantities of coal. New 
Brunswick has extensive deposits of iron ores in Carlton 



. /;-/. Science, Literature, and Commerce. 22$ 

County, and bog ores in Queens, Sunbury, Restigouche, and 
Northumberland counties. In the Province of Quebec, near 
the City of Ottawa, there is a hill of iron which has been esti- 
mated to contain 100,000,000 tons. The Haycock Mine is 
situated eight miles north-east of the city, and it has been 
estimated that it could yield an output of 100 tons of ore per 
day for 150 years, without being exhausted. Very valuable 
deposits of iron and bog ores are found in many other parts of 
the Province. The Province of Ontario has enormous deposits 
of iron ores of a superior quality ; many rich beds have been 
found in Manitoba and in the Northwest Territories. British 
Columbia is exceedingly rich in iron ores; many of the deposits 
are found along the coast and islands, lying side by side with 
bituminous coal of good quality. 

There is no other metal of so much importance to the 
material progress and prosperity of any country as iron, and 
when we consider the enormous amount we are importing, viz.: 
an average of $20,000,000 per annum since Confederation, 
making an aggregate for 20 years of $400,000,000, it is high 
time for us not only to consider, but to commence to make all 
the iron and steel goods we need. YVe possess 12.000 miles of 
railways and are increasing our mileage from year to year ; these 
railroads would in themselves consume in large quantities, in 
addition to our requirements in other directions. Then, con- 
sider the bearing the iron industry would have on other 
industries, which would come into existence in connection 
with it ; the benefits from it directly or indirectly would be 
incalculable. There are quite a number of chartered companies 
organized to work mines and to manufacture iron and steel 



New! S.inadian Hist: 

are waiting their opportune - mmence operations. 

A svndicate of wealthy and influential Americans, being satis- 
tied that the Iron deposits of Canada are the richest in the 
world, and that they can be v advantage, have recently 

rhem- - company with a capital of 

the purpose _ ron mines in Canada. 

We wish them every - - and sincerely hope that they will 

be well rewarded : their movement in this direction may give 
courage for the investment of many millions more by others 
for the same and kindred purposes. The development of our 
coal and iron industries will do more to enrich our country 
than anything else we know of could do. 

LE 

Galena or sulphite of lead is found in varying quantities 
in all the Provinces except Prince Edward Island. The coun- 
ties of Frontenac and Hast igs n the Provinc rario.are 
especially designatec - ?.d mini: _ _ rod the Fron- 
tenac Lead Mir g is to carry on 
- ; operations north of Kingston. Lead mining - 
not been carried on to a at, but it is expected to 
become one of considerable importance in the near future, as 
the facilities for transportation, which was the principal draw- 
in the past, have been very much improved by the building 
of railroads adjacent to many of the deposits. The uses of 
lead are so varied, and used in such large quantity- 

action with the industrials arts, that the opening up and 
working of the mines would make this another very important 



.7/7, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 22J 

industry of our country. It is only lately that it has become 
known that the Kootenay Country, in British Columbia, is 
enormously rich in lead ores, the ore showing .is much as 
I5^20Z. of silver to the ton. It cannot be mined to pay until 
a railway is built into that country to give them an outlet. 1 
understand that a charter has been obtained for one, and that 
it will soon be built. When that is done, we may hear of 
results from there equaling if not surpassing those of Leadville 
and the Black Hills country. 

MANGANESE. 

The ores of manganese are found in all the Provinces 
except in British Columbia, and are mined to a considerable 
extent in Nova Scotia and in New Brunswick ; their value is 
estimated on the percentage of binoxide which they contain. 
They are used extensively in manufacturing bleaching pow- 
ders and flint glass, and as a siccative in paints, oils and 
varnishes. 

MICA. 

Mica is one of the characteristic minerals of the Lauren- 
tian rocks. In these rocks are found the white , brown and 
black varieties, of which the former is the most valuable. Work- 
able deposits of the white mica are found from Labrador on 
the east, to Lake of the Woods on the west, whilst the Ottawa 
Valley is a huge storehouse of mica, in which the black predo- 
minates. Its use has been principally for lanterns and stoves 
on account of its transparency. 



228 New Papers on Canadian History, 



PETROLEUM. 

This mineral product is also known as kerosene and coal 
oil. It has been noticed in all the Provinces except in Prince 
Edward Island. Its origin has been a subjet of much specula- 
tion among geologists, and is still an unsettled question, the 
prevalent and most widely accepted notion is. that it is due to 
a very slow decomposition of organic remains, animal or vege- 
table, or both combined. The only area of production at pres- 
ent lies between Lake Erie and Lake Huron. The petroleum 
bearing resrion is overlaid with continuous beds of sand and 
clay, which sometimes hold the oil rising from the underlying 
limestones of the corniforous formation, which seems to be its 
true source. 

. Our petroleum oil industries employ a capital of 
£10,000,000; the production of the wells is about 6,000,000 
barrels of crude oil per annum, which is manufactured into all 
kinds of illuminating and lubricating oils and greases, benzine, 
vaseline, paraffine wax. etc., etc. 

There is considerable excitement existing at present in the 
neighborhood of Montreal, in consequence of the discovery of 
natural gas at Longue Pointe. A joint stock company has been 
formed for the purpose of prospecting in that neighborhood ; 
they are at work now, and have drilled to a depth of 1,300 feet ; 
the average daily progress is from ten to fifteen feet. The rapi- 
dity of the work, of course, depends upon the character of the 
resistance offered in boring down through the earth ; they ex- 
pect to find the gas at a depth of about 2,000 feet. There is 



Art, Science. Literature, and Commerce. 229 

an almost intolerable smell of gas coming from the shaft which 
they are sinking. 



SALT. 



This very important substance is found in the Provinces 
of Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia, and in the North- 
\\e>t Territories, but it is only prepared for commerce in 
Ontario. 

It was first discovered at Goderich, by parties who were 
boring for petroleum, the boring resulted in the discover)' of a 
bed of rock salt 30 feet thick at a depth of 964 feet ; the 
boring was continued at a depth of 1,010 feet, when hard rock- 
was met with. A pure saturated brine was obtained at this 
depth. 

The principal wells are at Goderich, Clinton, Seaforth and 
Kincardine. The brine is of great strength, and of remarkable 
purity. American chemists, who have examined Canadian 
salt, unhesitatingly declare that it is of finer quality than that 
obtained from the great American salt area of New York 
State. Some distance up the Slave River in the Northwest 
Territories, a number of brine springs are found scattered over 
a wide plain, and large accumulations of salt are deposited 
around them. It is said that these accumulations are of 
unknown depth and extent, and it is supposed that there are 
vast deposits underneath the surface. Another salt region is 
reported to be at about half way between Great Slave and 
Great Bear Lakes, which takes about half a day to cross. 



2 jo New Papers on Canadian History, 

SILVER. 

The ores of silver are found in all the Provinces, except 
in Prince Edward Island. There are, however, no workings to 
speak of, except those carried on along the northern shore of 
Lake Superior, including the famous Silver Islet Mine ; the 
latter was originally a rock whose greatest diameter was 75 
feet, and its greatest height above the lake was eight feet ; it 
is situated about half a mile from the main-land. The vein 
was discovered in 1868, and was worked by the Montreal Min- 
ing Company for two years ; they disposed of it, and 107,000 
acres of mineral lands, to an American Company. Since then, 
the mine has been steadily worked, and extends now to a depth 
of over 550 feet below the level of the lake ; it is yielding a re- 
munerative return, and it is estimated that over $3,000,000 
worth of Silver has been taken out of it since it was opened. 
The most remarkable discoveries of silver ore on record were 
made last March, in the Thunder Bay District, near Port 
Arthur. Mr. Roland, C. E., reported that the Beaver Mine 
has shown, by actual measurement, upwards of $750,000 worth 
of solid silver in sight, and that another bonanza has been 
struck at Silver Mountain, containing solid black silver in im- 
mense quantities. Such rich exposures of silver ores are un- 
precedented. 

All the lead ores of the Province of Quebec contain silver 
yielding from 1 Y / 2 oz. to 65 oz. to the ton ; and all the lead 
ores found in Nova Scotia yield from 3 oz. to 100 oz. to 
the ton. 

British Columbia seems from latest reports to be develop- 



Art Science, Literature, and Commerce. 231 

Ing > n minerals of every kind, and some of its showings indi- 
cate that it is going to excel in silver, and some of the assays 
made have shown as high as $f>oo to the ton of ore. The sil- 
ver ores on Kootenay Lake, and on the Upper Columbia Ri- 
ver, are very plentiful. There is every indication to lead to the 
belief that very rich silver mines will be opened there as soon 
as the means of transportation are completed. 

As time will not permit us to enter into the particulars of 
all the minerals, I will merely say that we have in addition to 
those already mentioned, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, lignite, mo- 
lybdenum, nickel, pyrites, lithographic stone, oxides of iron of 
every kind, suitable for paint, materials for building", flagging, 
paving and slating; stone suitable for grindstones and millstones, 
marbles of various qualities, white, black, brown, gray-mottled, 
variegated, spotted and green ; white quartz and silicious sand- 
stone, for making glass; soapstone, emery, infusorial earths, 
and precious stones. The early French settlers sent home con- 
siderable quantities of the latter, and one very handsome ame- 
thyst was divided into two and placed in the crown of one of 
the French kings. The precious stones are agates, amethysts, 
jasper, garnets, topaz, bloodstone and opal. 

I have thus skimmed over an extensive area in minerals, 
but have scarcely touched on any points relating to them, ex- 
cept those that were necessary to impress you with the richness 
of their quality, the vastness of the deposits, and the wealth 
which they contain. Canada has unbounded resources in all 
kinds of minerals. 

Let me call your attention for a moment before closing to 
a mechanical device called "The Cyclone Pulverizer," a machine 



232 New Papers on Canadian History, 

which is destined to play a most important part in the reduc- 
tion of minerals, which require to be either pulverized or fiber- 
ized ; it can do either at much less cost, and to better advantage 
in every way, than any other machine yet invented, and espe- 
cially is this the case in the reduction of gold quartz, mica, 
plumbago and phosphates, and in fiberizing asbestos. It has 
stood the severest tests on all kinds of materials which required 
to be pulverized or fiberized. A test was recently made on 
phosphates which contained a large percentage of mica, render- 
ing it almost valueless for exportation. The mica was separa- 
ted from the phosphates without any difficult}- in the process 
of pulverization, and its analysis, which was only 30 per cent, 
phosphoric acid, equivalent to 66 per cent, phosphate of lime, 
was raised to 34^4 per cent, phosphoric acid, equivalent to ~j % 
per cent, phosphate of lime. It is needless to say that such a 
showing will be of very great value to phosphate miners. 
Statements as interesting can be made in reference to tests 
made with it on other materials as well as on minerals. 





.-5 












reend K' tfa rfer\v nK of i^ip% Hpf : . 



~^ 



vr 



-^w 



AN ARTIST'S EXPERIENCE IN THE 
CANADIAN ROCKIES. 



' l Read before the Canadian Clid' 

JOHX A. ERASER, R. C. A. j ^ ^ 



HAT I am very much pleased and 
gratified to meet this brilliant gather- 
ing of the members of the Club 
and their friends, no one can doubt. 
I assure you, moreover, that it is 
very pleasant to recognize so main- 
known and loved faces for " Auld 
Lang-Syne." 

Most of you are aware that all 
the pictures here exhibited were painted on the spot. I mean 




2J4 New Papers on Canadian History, 

by that that they were begun and finished, as far as you see 
them, out of doors and in view of the subjects or objects 
depicted. I Referring here to his magnificent collect ion of paint- 
ings then on exhibition]. 

And although, condescendingly judging from the results 
attained, it may seem to you to have been rather easy of accom- 
plishment — and you will be surprised when told that like many 
another undertaking such as bridging the East River and 
digging a canal through the Isthmus of Suez, it was after 
all not so easy as it seems. 

I may tell you that five artists, all " good and true men," 
were at work at the same time in these Canadian Rocky Moun- 
tains. I know one whose eyes wandered confusedly for 
many days, and whose hands hung helplessly in the presence 
of those peaks over which the clouds, with their ever-changing 
lights and shades, travelled ceaselessly. For many days, I say, 
wondering what to do and where to begin. 

Some had brought mighty canvases which were eventually 
covered with nothing, while others were covered with a good 
deal too much. Some, when a subject impressed them as 
worthy of their brush, would commence it, but almost at the 
outset the effect would change, and the attempt would be 
abandoned for something else, which, oftener than otherwise, 
would result in the same uniform failure. 

Rut there was one among us who, indeed, was a grand 
example of patient persistence. Although the smoke of eight 
hundred miles of forest fires completely hid from view every 
object more than fifty yards distant, it made no difference to 
him. He had begun his pictures under happier auspices and 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2Jj 

he faithfully repaired, day in and day our, to his chosen grounds, 
and " fired away." 

That is one way of painting on the spot and from nature. 
Yes, quite a long way from her too ! 

I am no political economist, therefore I do not propose to 
tire you with anything about the exhaustless capabilities for 
development of this new country. I don*t know anything 
about such matters ; however, 1 have a sort of stupid theory, 
unprofessional you know, that the valley and delta of the 
Fraser River are alone capable of supporting a population 
as large as that of Great Britain. 

I can only tell you in a disconnected way some of the 
tilings that impressed me as an artist. 

I left Montreal on the 8th of June fully equipped to 
carry on my "plan of campaign." I had an abundance ol 
painting material, almost enough to paint the Rocky Moun- 
tains from base to summit. I took a great deal with me because 
I knew I could not replenish my stock there. Hut I 
brought some of it back, and I have reason to believe that 
it would have been better if I hadn't used so much. You 
haven't seen all I did, you know. 

I will spare you some of the details about the trip from 
Owen Sound to Port Arthur. We made it in one of the 
Company's splendid steamers plying across the inland ocean 
called Lake Superior. Soon after leaving Sault St. Marie we 
were for hours enveloped in fogs which alternated with 
rains ; consequently, the scenery could not impress me, only 
when we came suddenly in sight of immense lump- o\ 
majestic ugliness called Thunder Cape and its compeer Pie 



New Papers on Canadian History, 

Island. I say lumps of majestic ugliness, for although nothing 
else but enormous basaltic spurs, the}- are majestic and 
imposing notwithstanding, as they rise from the waste of 
waters like lions couchants. At Port Arthur, with the words 
" All aboard ! " the fun began. 

We commenced to size up and sort our company, and 
choose our companions. 

There was naturally a predominance of the Scotch Ontario 
element : — the man with the shrewd, rather suspicious gray eyes, 
not very grey, for he could not afford to let too much out ; 
eyes well set back under the square brow, the strong lines indi- 
cative of thrift, perseverance and strong settled " releegious 
opeenions ": the hard, stern mouth, and the fine well-pronounced 
freckles on the sole-leather skin, all of which characteristics 
proved him the honest farmer going West to "better his 
condeetion and tae mak muckle or mair for the wife and weans." 

These thrift}- Scotchmen kept pretty much to themselves, 
they did not " give themselves away/' 

Of course, the joyous, buoyant drummer was there in force, 
as he is everywhere, and I was greatly struck with the bound- 
less wealth of the great Northwest, because most of those gen- 
tlemen represented houses interested in the manufacture of 
receptacles for the said wealth — their business in life being to sell 
safes : and. as they wee very numerous, the inference that money 
was plenty in the Northwest was a fair one at that distance, 
although I must confess my disappointment on reaching 
Winnipeg, in not observing an}- more profuse prodigality- 
there than in New York or Boston. 

Of course, the people I have described, though charming 



Arty Science. Literature, and Commerce. 23) 

in their way, did not attract me very powerfully. But 1 soon 
found pleasant traveling companions in a gentleman and his 
wife from Baltimore : a Scotch gentleman from Glasgow, a right 
c^ood fellow of a fine type, alert, intelligent and genial, though he- 
did have the misfortune to be a "Laird.- and a distinguished 
clergyman, also from Glasgow, who, twenty-five years ago, had 
been sent out as a missionary amongst the miners of Cariboo. 
He had built a church in Victoria, but had left it eighteen years 
since, and was returning to see old friends and scenes. All these 
people were like myself, making their first trip through to the 

Pacific. 

And here, though she may never know of it, I must record 
the thankfulness of myself and friends to the brave and 
gentle lady of our party. I have not words to express my esti- 
mation of the uniform and unvarying kindliness, patience and 
sweet temper which she showed during the eight days of that 
journey, which was made in all sorts of cars known to men who 
deal in rolling stock-in box-cars, flat-cars, cabooses and cars 
of every description, except, of course, horse-cars; sometimes 
with no better sleeping accommodations than a cushion and a 
blanket. Our fare was not as varied as our transportation; some- 
times we sat at table-d'hote, in canvas hotels whose flamboyant 
signs bore such inscriptions as The Windsor. The Continental. 
The Brunswick. Grand Pacific, etc.. where the menu consisted 
always of leather beefsteak well-covered with bad butter, boiled 
potatoes of the description known as » waxy," followed by pie, 
the whole washed down with boiled tea, and this without inter- 



mission. 



Through the dust and heat, and clouds of bloodthirsty 



2j8 New Papers on Canadian History, 

mosquitoes when passing through the dry belt. Yes, through 
all the discomforts incidental to that first trip of three thousand 
miles, and up to the day that we left her in the fine hotel at Vic- 
toria, she was the same gentle, good and exceedingly beautiful 
lady. The love of those two people too was wonderful, inas- 
much as they had been three years married. 

You all know more about Winnipeg than I do, but here 
I want to acknowledge the royal manner in which Mr. Bedson, 
Mr. Scarth and the Manitoba Club entertained us. 

We went with Mr. Bedson to see his herds of buffaloes at 
Stony Mountain and joined in the exciting chase — in a buggy. 
The hunt did not impress me as being as dangerous as it was 
uncomfortable, for three of us occupied but one seat. From 
Winnipeg our journey for eight hundred miles was quite 
uninteresting to me. The country, from my point of view, 
is wanting in the elements of the picturesque. When I say 
this I know that I am treading on delicate ground, for many 
of my brother artists hold that there is nothing so unpaint- 
able as those subjects which, until recently, have been consid- 
ered the richest in the pictorial element, and which are also 
considered as such by many whose names have at least the 
respectability of time and permanence. 

But I am not sure that those among my brothers of the 
brush who have learnt to look at our glorious American 
scenery through the spectacles of France and Holland, might 
not find these eight hundred miles of prairies, coulees, and cut 
hills deeply interesting. 

It was at Calgary, the lovely little town on the beautiful 
Bow River, that early on a summer's morning we got a first sight 



. Irt, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2jy 

of the Rockies, fully one hundred and fifty miles away. The sky 
was clear overhead, and in the far distant horizon lay these 
mountains. Clouds they appeared to the untrained vision, and, 
indeed, as the eye gradually became able to distinguish and 
separate the forms, the poet's words, 

" The clouds like rocks and the rocks like clouds," 

was acknowledged as the best possible description. 

From Calgary to the summit of the Rockies, on the 
eastern slope, is a panorama such as cannot be described in 
any way, either by pen or brush. For about one hundred miles it 
is constant, ever-growing and increasing in astonishment and sur- 
prise at its beauty and splendor. From the entrance of the Gap 
at Canmore, and up, up, ever up, past peak after peak, glaciers 
innumerable, over madly-roaring boiling torrents, toying with 
and playfully flinging here and there on their snowy crests, trees, 
some of them large enough to build a barn. Still up and up, un- 
til seven thousand feet above the sea level your train crawls 
past the base of Mount Stephen, its peak piercing the clouds a 
mile still higher up, and with head swimming and eyes and 
neck aching and your heart thumping against your ribs, you 
cry, enough ! and prepare for the descent of the Kicking 
Horse Pass — and — dinner. 

This pass of the Kicking Horse is, 1 am told, the steepest 
railway grade in the world, being four and a half feet in the 
hundred for about nine miles. I don't know whether this is 
so or not, but I do know that I was compelled to travel on foot 
and alone, weighted down with my painting materials and a 
heavy gun for some weeks, sometimes as much as ten or twelve 



2AO New Papers on Canadian Historw 

miles a day, and in all sorts of weather, and doing my work 
besides. 

Through the valley of the Kicking Horse, past the peaks 
oi Lanchvill. a word or name which I am proud to say that I 
can pronounce properly, thanks to the persistent and continuous 
schooling of my friend " the Laird." It is a Gaelic word, and 
signifies the end of the valley. So, all's well that ends well ! 

Through this valley, amidst such magnificence of form 
and colors, on we go. till we begin to realize that one can 
have too much of a good thing. Presently, we commence to 
climb again, and the Rogers Pass, at the summit of the Selkirks. 
is reached. Here it was that my pride was hurt, that I 
realized how very little I knew. 

We were heartily tired ; in fact, we had reached the 
ultimate point of disgust at the regularity of the simple bill of 
fare. 

Beefsteak is a popular and wholesome article of food : but 
beefsteak three times a day for many days, you can easily see 
must become monotonous. 

We all grumbled, but a member of our party went off in 
search of variety. That town, up in the Alpine snows, was a 
curious and interesting sight. You tramped it from the cars 
over a path cut through many feet oi snow . the remains of an 
avalanche which had some weeks before buried cars, shanties, 
tracks-and everything else from sight. Subsequently I learnt 
that later on. in the summer, when the snows at this level 
were all melted, several freight cars were found still covered 
with snow in a little ravine sheltered from the sun. 

Well ! the seeker passed the grand hotels — few of which 



Art, Science. Literature, and Commerce. 2ji 

exceeded twelve by twenty feet, and always constructed of tent 
cloth — till he saw an immense sign bearing the words " General 
Store." To the " General Store," which seemed completely 
hidden by the sign and a splendid specimen of Celtic manhood, 
the seeker hied, and addressed the large Celt thus : " Good 
Mr. Cap't. havn't you got a red herring and a nice loaf of 

bread, and some fair butter that a fel " Here the seeker 

lost his self-possession, and his buoyancy received a rude shock, 
for the grand Celt, looking down with superb contempt, said 
in that rich, beautiful accent that some of us know and love: 
" A red herrin'. at the top o' the roakies ! Weel, weel, hadn't 
ye betther gang till the north pole and speer for plums." 

I saw much of this grand Scotch-Canadian element, and 
wherever I met it. whether in the lumber shanties on the 
Columbia or Fraser. on the ranches in the dry belt, or in the 
warehouses, counting-rooms, or government offices on the Pacific 
Road, it was always the same as it is in this great country, where 
the Scotchman and the Scotch-Canadian man count among its 
best citizens, self-respecting, courageous, never blustering, 
honest and just, shrewd and faithful, cautious and kind, and 
always intelligent representatives. That was the sort of Scotch- 
man I met wherever I went from Montreal to Vancouver'^ 
Island. 

That is the kind of men who conceived and planned and 
built this great railroad. I am thankful that I have some 
Scotch blood in my veins, it may enable me to do something 
some day. 

Oh, if my friend Eagan had only had a Scotch name ! 

I found the Pacific coast moist. It rained every day, and I 



2J.2 New Papers on Canadian History, 

was told it was unusual ; but when I looked at the purple and 
white bells of the fox-gloves growing ou stalks six and seven 
feet high ; at the gigantic bushes of the bonnie yellow broom ; 
at the gowans at my feet ; at the long ropes of moss festoon- 
ing the mighty Douglas firs, and also at the rich mosses in 
the woods, three and four feet deep, I could not help thinking 
of my frequent experience as an angler. It has often occurred to 
me — has it not to any of you ? — that upon arriving at a spot 
celebrated for its " immense strings," to be informed that this is 
not a very good time, last month was the right time, and about 
the middle of next month will be a good time. In fact, it has 
frequently happened that any time is better than the present. 
You can draw your own inferences, but fish ! 

If the climate of the coast is damp, a very different 
story must be told of the country about one hundred miles 
east. Inland, along the valley of the Fraser, beginning at 
Lytton, where the dry belt commences, rain never falls. Still, 
by means of irrigation, using the melting snows from the 
mountains, it is a wonderfully fertile land. 

I saw much that was beautiful in this part of the country, 
of a beauty that was new and strange, — golden brown hillsides 
and flat table-lands, benches so-called, and blue skies ; but, owing 
to the fact that several hundreds of miles of forests were ablaze, 
the thick smoke prevented me doing much with my pencil. 
I remained there for some weeks and heard a great deal about 
the valuable gold washing, and mining, and cattle raising, and 
other industries peculiar to the region. Nobody there seems 
to think of doing manual labor but the despised and hated 
Chinaman, and he is therein strength ; a patient, well-behaved. 



Art, Science, Literature . and Commerce. 243 

industrious, cleanly, sober laborer — and a very bad cook. That 
country could never have been developed without him. 

I was much amused at a sign that I saw in Kamloops, 
which is about the driest part of the dry belt, the words were 
very suggestive : "Week Lung, labor done here." 

I have said nothing yet about the salmon, which annually, 
millions upon millions, crowd and crush up the Fraser in 
their blind instinct to deposit their eggs. They know no 
obstacles, they never feed at this period, they only press on 
up the big river and out of it into the smaller tributaries. 

When I reached Victoria, I wandered through the town 
with the minister, and we saw in a shop about a dozen very 
handsome salmon, the first we had seen. 

I asked the price of the largest fish, that would weigh about 
thirty-five pounds. Of course, I meant the price per pound, as 
I would in an eastern market, and on being told four bits, 
fifty cents, thought it high, and said so. The fishmonger said 
he knew it was high, but the salmon had not yet begun to 
run : in a few days such fish would sell for two bits each. From 
which I gathered that fifty cents was the price of the fish in 
question — head, tail and all. 

You all remember with pain the dreadful accident on the 
Brooklyn Bridge and its cause. You know that, in the pro- 
cession, one or two people missed their footing descending the 
steps. Those behind them, in their impatience, pressed on, and 
the confusion increased. Those still further behind got anxious 
to know the cause of the delay, and pressed on. This was re- 
peated still further back, and you know as a result that several 
poor creatures were killed, crushed and crowded even past re- 



2-f-f. New Pape?s on Canadian History, 

cognition. Well, I am going to tell you the fish story. I have 
told it before, and my auditors as a rule have made no com- 
ment, but they have taken their hats, and departed rather 
more abruptly than politely. 

I crossed a river walking upon salmon. Do you understand 
my reference to the Brooklyn Bridge catastrophe ? 

The advance guard of fish had become blocked in some 
way, and with just the same amount of senselessness — but what 
better could you expect of a poor fish — had choked the stream. 
They were all dead, and were jammed there in millions, for 
weeks, in many parts of the Fraser, which is a mighty turbulent 
muddy stream, fed by melting snows, and draining a vast area 
of forest land, one could not throw a pebble into the river with- 
out hitting a salmon ; the water was literally full of them. 

I stopped, when making the studies on the lower Fraser, 
with an Ontario family, who were not fish eaters ; but I induced 
them to get some for me, and I enjoyed for several days some 
fine sturgeon. 

I used to see these fish, weighing from two to sixteen 
hundred pounds, leaping many feet in the bright sunlight, clear 
of the river, in sport or in quest of prey. One evening, my 
host took me to see the sturgeon portions of which I had been 
eating, and much to my amazement I found it tethered, so to 
speak, by means of a stout rope to a wharf, the whole of one 
side had been cut away. He had begun to carve upon the 
other side, and the fish was alive and apparently doing very 
well. He couldn't have been happy, though ? 

While talking of fish, I was surprised at the presence of 
only a few trout in the glacier streams, and can only account 



Ai'l, Science, Literature t and Commerce. 24.5 

for it by supposing that during the winter anchor-ice must 
freeze most of them. It cannot be that the water is normally 
too cold, as has been suggested, else why do we find any. 

Referring again to the Scotchmen : at Donald, we, that is 
Minister " Laird " and myself, came across a philosopher. You 
will say that the heart of the Rockies is the last place in the 
world to find such a being, but there he was keeping a trackman's 
boarding-house. He had come from Cape Breton, and had early 
in life married a lass from Prince Edward Island. By a freak of 
fortune he had become heir to a large and valuable estate in 
Scotland. But, after having taken the necessary steps to secure 
it, he still hesitated at going to the old land to take possession. 
" Ye see," he said, " it will be a gude thing for the bairns, for 
they can be properly educated and take their proper poseetion 
becomingly ; but for me, I've lived this rough life so long that 
the gran folks wad just laugh at me. Wull ye no hae a 
glass ? " 

Oh ! that was a merry night we passed as his guests. 
Minister "Laird" and I. There was a violin virtuoso from 
the Shanty who supplied music for a very hearty reel, in which 
the " Laird " joined. A pawky lad from Cape Breton sang 
several songs in the Gaelic tongue, and an auld man with long 
gray hair took off his bonnet, and bowing to the Minister, sang 
in a voice to which tremulosity added sweetness, that gem of 
Burns', " The Bank-- and Braes o' Bonny Doon." He warbled 
the old love-song, sitting half in the gloom, the light of a 
common old-fashioned candle illuminating his beautiful silver 
locks like an aureole, while the night-wind sighed far up in the 
great pines and the mighty river roared in muffled tones. 



2-f6 



New Papers on Canadian History 



God knows where the old man's memory travelled to, but 
we all felt the meaning of the song as we never felt it before. 
And we were the better for it. 

Then, after singing "Auld Lang-Syne," the meeting came 
to a close, just the same as this paper does ! 




Ot\tfc B<Vftker^> 




m* .. 




s£* 




CANADA FIRST 



/./ w /^ir/^Dr-rr r r> -i \- t n r> ( Read before the Canadian Clui 

RE I . GEORGE GRA.\ T, D. D., ) J 

Principal Queen's University. ) / Yew York. 



HAT is meant by the phrase " Canada 
First?" It means that Canada — though 
still nominally and officially in the col- 
onial position — is really a nation, and 
therefore that its interests and honor 
must be regarded by all true Canadians 
as first or supreme. 

In 1N67, the Act of Confederation 
constituted the Maritime Provinces 
and the old Upper Canada and Lower Canada into the new 
Dominion. Immediately thereafter societies sprung into exist- 
ence in different centres that took the name of " Canada First." 
These societies did not last long. I do not kn< >\\ of one that is in 




2^.8 New Papers on Canadian History. 

existence at the present time. Their fate too has been held up as 
a proof that there is no national sentiment in Canada, and that 
Canada is not a nation. Is such a fact sufficient proof, or 
even the slightest proof of any such thing ? Certainly not. It is 
only a proof that a club or society, if it is to exist, must have 
some definite object to accomplish. Any one may at any 
time be called upon to testify his affection or his loyalty or 
adherence to a creed, but here testifying becomes monotonous, 
and men will not meet regularly merely to cry " Yea, yea," or 
" Nay, nay." There are no Scotland First or Wales First or 
England First societies. In Ireland, there are societies enough to 
accomplish national work oi some kind or another, but I have 
not heard of even Ireland First societies. The weakness inherent 
to political organizations that have no definite work to do is 
seen in the difficulty that has been found in forming and 
maintaining in existence branches of the Imperial Federation 
League. I am a member of that League, but it is evident 
that it will soon vanish into thin air, unless some scheme of 
commercial or political union is agreed upon, for the carrying of 
which its members ma}' work. 

Is there, then, a common national sentiment in Canada, 
independent of the vigorous Provincial contingent that we find 
in each Province? Is there a common life that binds these 
Provinces and Territories together? We have a political unit}-, 
but, does that represent an} - underlying sentiment ? I believe 
that it does, though the national pulse is weak and is all but 
overpowered by the currents of Provincial interests, which fac- 
tion uses in the most unscrupulous way, and by the cross cur- 
rents of racial and religious prejudices, too often sedulously 



Art % Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2jy 

fostered for selfish purposes. This common life i> made up of 
three elements: North-American, French and British. The at- 
mosphere, the soil, the climate, and all the physical condition* 
under which a people lives, determine to a great extent its char- 
acter and place in history. All these are North-American, and 
very far North at that. In the centre of the Dominion is the 
Province of Quebec, French to the core, French in language 
and in heart ; nourishing, too, the sentiments, son--, laws and 
institutions of the 17th rather than of the 19th century. Then, 
Canada, as a whole, has inherited from Britain, not merely what 
the United States have inherited, — language, literature, laws, 
blood, religion and the fundamental principles of civil and re- 
ligious liberty, that are at the basis of modern States, but also 
continuity of national life. That means a great deal. It in- 
cludes the same traditions, the same political and constitutional 
forms; the same history, sentiments and affections ; a common 
flag, a common allegiance, and a common citizenship. These 
things make up a great deal of our life. Every one knows how 
much the flag represents. And this Jubilee year will demon- 
strate the extent of the loyalty that all citizens feel towards 
the head of the whole Empire. We have undertaken to build 
up on this continent a Franco-British-North-American state, 
believing that these three elements can be fused into a common 
life ; the experiment is being tried. Should there be success, 
Canada- may be the link that shall unite the great mother and 
her greatest daughter, the United States of America. What 
prospect is there of the experiment succeeding ? What proofs 
are there that the three elements are fusing or will fuse into a 
common Canadian national sentiment ? 



2jo New Papers on Canadian History, 

The formation of the Canadian Confederation showed that 
the people of the different Provinces had the national instinct. 
Autonomous Provinces are not willing to give up any portion 
of their power, even to constitute a nation. Any one will 
admit that, who knows the reluctancy of the thirteen colonies 
to surrender to the central authority the smallest portion of 
their independence. And, in our case, the geographical diffi- 
culties in the way of union seemed well nigh insuperable. To 
begin with, the Intercolonial Railroad had to be built along 
the St. Lawrence, involving a detour of two or three hundred 
otherwise unnecessary miles. Commerce demanded that the 
connection between Montreal and the maritime Provinces 
should be across the State of Maine, and the road by that 
direct line is now being built. So, too, commerce demanded 
that the connection between Montreal and the Northwest shore 
be by the Sault St. Marie and along the south of Lake Superior. 
And commerce made no demand for a railway across the Sel- 
kirks to the Pacific. But in all those cases, political necessities 
predominated, and the people have consented willingly to the 
enormous cost of building the Intercolonial and the Canadian 
Pacific railways as political roads. All that is now required to 
make the Dominion perfectly independent, by land and water, 
so far as means of communication from one part of the Domi- 
nion to another is concerned, is a canal on the Canadian side 
of Sault St. Marie ; and its construction has been determined 
upon. The cost will not be excessive. There nature is on 
our side. If there was to be only one canal, it is quite clear to 
the most careless observer that it should be on the Canadian 
shore. The adoption of the National Policy, or the protection 



Art, Science, Literature, ami Commerce. 2$1 

of our own manufactures against all other countries Britain 
included, was a distinct declaration of commercial indepen- 
dence, that has been reaffirmed again and again by the people 
of Canada. The outburst of patriotic feeling, when the re- 
cent rebellion broke out in the Northwest, was still more sig- 
nificant. Though the French Canadians identified the cause 
of the rebels with their own nationality, or rather with the up- 
holding of French influence in the Territories, regiments of 
Quebec militia marched to put the rebellion down. And pa- 
triotic feeling was not deeper in Ontario than it was in Nova 
Scotia, where various causes had combined to make Confede- 
ration unpopular. For twenty years, the Canadians have con- 
tinued their resolute effort to accomplish complete national, 
political, commercial and national unity, in spite of the geo- 
graphical and other difficulties in the way, that might well have 
appalled them. The present calm determination to protect our 
fisheries, and to waive no jot of our rights, although all our 
interests and feelings lie in the direction of unfettered commer- 
cial intercourse, and the preservation of friendly feelings with 
the United States, is another proof that we have become one 
people. The fisheries along the maritime shores do not directly 
concern Ontario ; but the feeling there against surrender to 
anything like encroachment is as decided as in Nova Scotia. 
The symptoms of restlessness, on account of our position being 
merely colonial, and the discussion of plans, whereby we may 
emerge into a position of recognized nationality and stable 
political equilibrium, also shows that we are nearing that point 
in our history when we must assume the full responsibilities 
of nationhood, or abandon the experiment altogether. 



252 New Papers on Canadian History, 

I have said that there is such a thing as Canadian national 
sentiment, but the fact that the question can be asked, whether 
there is or not, proves how weak that sentiment must be. No 
one would ask such a question with regard to the United States 
or the smallest of European kingdoms or republics. Outsiders 
may think that it would be better for Belgium to be incorpora- 
ted with France, or for Holland to cast in its lot with Germany; 
but in each case national sentiment is too unmistakable to 
make such a fate likely. Canada covers half a continent, and 
her great neighbor is certainly not as unscrupulous or as mili- 
tary a power as France or Germany. Yet, it would be inac- 
curate to say that she occupies as distinct and unanimous a po- 
sition with regard to her future as Belgium or Holland. The 
fact must be admitted that Canadian patriotic sentiment is 
weak. Why is it so ? Simply because we have had to do so 
little for the common weal. Our national sentiment has never 
been put to the test. Not once have we been called upon to 
choose between the nation and all that as individuals we hold 
dear. We have not been tried in the furnace, and the dross of 
selfishness is in us. Few of us have had to suffer, few of our 
children have had to die for the nation. 

Far otherwise has it been with the United States. The 
thirteen colonies had to fight for their freedom to begin with. 
Rather than submit to infringement on their political liberty, 
they ventured to stand up against the disciplined soldiers of the 
mother country. It was a great resolve. It was a great thing 
to do. They succeeded, and so proved their right to be a 
nation. It has been said that they nearly failed. It has been 
proved over and over again that they would have failed, had 



Arty Science, Literature* and Commerce. 2jj 

it not been for this, that, or the other accident. The geese 
cackled, the ass brayed or the dog barked. But the mere 
cackling of geese never amounts to much. Depend upon it, 
thefe must be Roman hearts somewhere near, as well as geese, 
if anything is to be done. Even if the thirteen colonies had 
failed, failure could have been only temporary in the case of 
such a people. It has been said that Washington was not a 
perfect character, that his officers were jealous, his men intract- 
able and mutinous, and Congress selfish and incompetent. But, 
supposing all these charges true, what has been proved ? Simply 
that the hero is not a hero to his valet, and that an heroic 
epoch under mundane conditions is not wholly celestial. But, 
at a little distance, the picture is seen to better advantage. 
The mountain side is rough to the man who is climbing it, but 
to him who looks at it from a distant point of vantage, it is soft 
as velvet. It is seen under a haze, or rosy or purple light. 
So the events of the Revolutionary war became glorified to 
the generations following. They saw them through a golden 
haze, which concealed everything mean and petty. These 
events constituted an inexhaustible reservoir, from which the 
nation drank for nearly a century. Incidents of all kinds, love 
stories, tales of intrigue and danger, of desperate but successful 
valor were woven round every battle-field. The Revolu- 
tionary struggle made a deplorable schism in the English- 
speaking race, but at the same time it made a nation, and it 
taught the mother country a lesson that she has never forgotten. 
Nearly a century afterwards, just when people were becoming 
slightly tired of Fourth of July fire-cracker celebrations, a still 
greater thing was given to the American people to do. They were 



254 New Papers on Canadian History, 

forced to choose between the life of the nation and an organized 
slave-power that boasted that the sources of national wealth 
were in its hands. They had to grapple with and strangle slavery 
or let the nation be cleft in twain. The choice was a hard 
one. but they chose well. It involved an expenditure so 
immense that no calculation of it can be made, but the invest- 
ment was wise. There is no nation on earth so shrewd as 
regards all manners of investments as the American, and never 
did it make an investment so profitable. Literature and art, 
morals and religion, song, music, poetry and eloquence, all have 
flowed from it and will continue to flow from it for generations. 
These things are more precious than gold or anything that gold 
can buy. They are life. Sentiment and the almighty dollar 
came into conflict, and fortunately for the American people 
sentiment proved the mightier. No wonder that Abraham Lin- 
coln's name has eclipsed that of George Washington. Who now 
dreams of dwelling on the petty skirmishes of the Revolutionary 
war? Every American citizen is now a better and richer man, 
because he shares in a grander national life. He feels its 
pulsations in his own veins, and he knows that his children 
and children's children will share in an inheritance beyond all 
price and that can never be taken from them. 

Xow, what has Canada done to show that she values na- 
tional existence and national honor more than anything else ? 
I have already gone over the record, and it must be admitted 
that more could not have been expected in the circumstances, 
and that there is promise and potency in it not unworthy of the 
stock from which we have sprung. We have no right to expect 
from man or nation more than the dutv of the hour, and on 






Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2jj 

the whole, Canada has not been unfaithful to that. Fortu- 
nately, or unfortunately, according to the point of view, we are 

not likely to be called upon to pass through the valley of tears 
and blood in order to obtain the crown of complete national 
freedom. On the one hand, it is perfectly clear that Great 
Britain will not repeat the mistake of the last century. In every 
conceivable way she has declared that our destiny is in our own 
hands. She gets nothing from us, yet she holds herself pledged 
to defend us, if necessary, against all comers and at all hazards. 
In making ever)- commercial treaty, she gives us the option 
whether we shall be included in it or not. She facilitates our 
attempts to negotiate treaties for ourselves. She never discri- 
minates against us or anybody else. Never, in the history of 
the world, has a mother country been so generous. We have 
imposed heavy duties upon her manufactures, utterly rejecting 
the doctrine of free trade, which to her is commercially the 
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, that 19th 
century gospel, of which she considers herself the apostle to 
stiff-necked nations and colonies ; yet, she has uttered no word 
of official remonstrance. I believe that we may discriminate 
against her manufactures; may declare ourselves politically in- 
dependent, or openly annex ourselves to the United States, 
without one shot being fired by her in protest. On the other 
hand, the United States are certain not to repeat the mistake of 
18 1 2-1 5. The armies that entered Canada then, to give us free- 
dom, found the whole population determined not to be free ; 
at any rate not to accept the gift on that line. There is no 
more likelihood of Canada attacking the United States than 
there is of a bov attacking a full-grown man. And we are 



2j6 New Papers on Canadian History, 

quite sure that the man has no intention of trying to murder 
the boy. 

We are able to distinguish the bluster of individuals 
from the strong will of a great nation. We believe that, if a 
political party brought on a war of aggression against Canada, 
it would simply be performing the happy despatch for itself. 
We may protect our fisheries, and build canals and railroads 
where we like. The Gloucester fishermen may get angry and 
Billingsgate fisheries, and newspapers may solemnly warn the 
country that Canada is constructing forts, summoning gunboats 
from the vasty deep, and calling out her militia! Congress 
may pass retaliatory acts, and the President may even see it to 
be his duty to decree non-intercourse. But there will be no 
war. 

The United States believe that they have enough on 
their hands already. A still larger number are convinced that 
the general well-being and the grand old cause will be served by 
there being two English-speaking States on this continent 
working out the problems of liberty under different forms. No 
doubt, many would like to see one flag from the gulf of Mexico 
to the Pole, but they know well that it would be better to wait 
for generations for such a consummation than to try to bring it 
about by force, or at the expense or the honor of either con- 
tracting party. 

It appears, therefore, that our future will not be precipi- 
tated or determined for us from without. We must settle it for 
ourselves. And we are taking matters so coolly, that some 
think we have little interest in it, and are satisfied to drift 
or to remain indefinitely in the merely colonial position. 






. Irt, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 257 

Charles Roberts, our most promising poet, represents 
Canada as standing among the nations 

•' Unheeded, unadored, unhymned 
With unanointed brow." 

and he asks reproachfully: 

" How long the ignoble sloth, how long 
The trust in greatness not thine own. " 

There is certainly nothing of the heroic in our national atti- 
tude. In his indignation, Roberts ranks us " with babes and 
slaves," and he seems to me to speak something like sober truth. 
A baby, when attacked, runs to its mother's apron-strings, and 
though the fault may be wholly its own, the responsibility is 
principally the mother's. When our newspapers hear of non- 
intercourse bills, they assure their readers that there is no dan- 
ger ; that Canada is bound up with the British Empire, and 
that the United States cannot discriminate between parts of an 
Empire, one and indivisible. When there is talk of the possibi- 
lity of war, they hint of the havoc that British men-of-war 
could work on the undefended wealthy cities that lie along the 
.Atlantic and Pacific coasts. But, let there be a proposal <>t 
Federation for the defence of common interests, and the same- 
papers adopt a different strain. They point out that Britain 
needs her fleet for her own protection and the maintenance of 
her commercial supremacy, and that it is Utopian — that is a 
favorite word — to expect that we should contribute towards 
making it efficient. Is not Roberts right ? Is not that the 
baby's attitude? So, New Foundland is indignant at present with 
the mother country, because she was not read) to quarrel with 



2 $8 New Papers on Canadian History, 

France for her sake. Hut not so very long ago, the same an- 
cient colony paid no more attention to the strongly accentuated 
Imperial policy in favor of the confederation of all the British 
American colonies, than if that had been the policy of Russia, 
or a selfish scheme of the mother country that the children 
should consider only from the point of view of their own im- 
mediate interests. There has been too much of the baby atti- 
tude. We know what the mind of a slave is. He would like 
liberty, if it meant idleness coupled with the good things of 
Egypt. But Egypt to him is better than the desert, without 
food and water. To be stuffed with pork and beans, and to lie 
in bed or swing on a gate all day long, with nothing to pay 
and no master or no winter to come, is bliss unalloyed. When 
I read editorials reminding Canadians of the advantages of 
their present position — the protection of the mother country, 
no matter where they go or what they do, and not a cent to 
pay — I am reminded of Sambo's ideal of Paradise. Alas, if 
they only knew it ; they are paying a price far greater than 
their fair share should be, according to any principle of com- 
putation ! 

If this is a true picture of our present position, is it any 
wonder that national sentiment is weak ? What have we to 
be proud of? The wars of Champlain and Frontenac with the 
Iroquois ; the raids into New York and Maine ; the campaigns 
of 1812-15 have receded into the dim distance as completely as 
the wars of New England with the Indian Sachems, or the strug- 
gles of Virginia with the French for the Ohio. We Canadians 
have not been idle. We have subdued the forest ; have built 
schools, colleges, churches, cities ; and, as sons of those hardy 



. I/-/. Science, Literature, and Commerce. 25Q 

Norsemen. whose home was on the deep, have made ourselves the 
fifth maritime nation in the world. We own great ocean-going 
steam fleets, and have constructed canals and railroads as won- 
derful as any to be found on the planet. All this work, done- 
most of it from " pure unvexed instinct of duty, is good. 
The man who has spent a lifetime clearing a hundred acres of 
solid brush on the wooded hillsides of Cape Breton, or along 
the shores of Erie or Huron, is of the same kin as the northern 
farmer who " stubb'd the Thornaby waste." From such an in- 
dustrious, duty-doing stock, heroes are apt to spring. Hut the 
heroes must come, or we shall have only a community of bea- 
vers, not a nation. " We have something to be proud of.'* re- 
marked a venerable gentleman to me not many years ago, " we 
have the best oarsman in the world, and my son owns a cow 
that gives thirty quarts of milk a day, and he has refused ten 
thousand dollars for her. " Very good. We have not a word 
against Hanlan or the cow. But we cannot live on them. 

What must be done ? We must rise higher than the cow. 
We must make up our minds with regard to the future. 
Drifting is unworthy of grown men. Drifting means unbelief 
in ourselves, and abandonment to chance or to the momentary 
exigencies of party leaders. It means almost certain disaster. 
We must become a nation in reality, with all the respon- 
sibilities and privileges of nationhood. There are only three 
directions that can be taken, and the mind of the people has 
not yet laid hold of the question, with the determination to settle 
it, which is the right direction. We have before us : First, a 
closer political and commercial union with the mother colonies, 
and the rest of the Empire. This has been called Imperial 



260 New Papers on Canadian History, 

Federation, but it might also be termed Imperial Union or even 
Alliance. It would be satisfied in the meantime with a 
recognition of the right of the great self-governing colonies 
to be consulted on peace, war and treaties, and with an inter- 
Imperial tariff of discriminatory duties against all the rest of 
the world, as a means of raising a common Imperial revenue. 
Secondly, the proposal, made in whispers, of an independent 
Canadian Republic, formed with the consent of the mother 
country ; and, Thirdly, the suggestion that the best way out 
of our debt and difficulties with the French-Canadians as well 
as with secessionism in Nova Scotia, and disallowance in the 
Northwest, would be by annexation to the United States. 
So far, the people have not seriously considered what should 
be done, or whether anything needs to be done, much less have 
they crystallized into parties on the subject. Consequently, 
not one of the three possible forms that we may assume has 
many representatives openly connected with it, although the 
conviction is deepening that any one of them would be better 
than the continuance of our present position for an indefinitely 
prolonged period. 

Now, I am not going to argue for or against any of these 
possible issues. We are likely to evolve peacefully, in my 
opinion, into one or another. As long as revolution is avoided, 
the movements of nations are regular and in accordance with 
antecedent causes — prophet is he whd can see into those 
antecedent causes so clearly that he can predict the outcome. I 
do not pretend to have this prophetic gift. The question is 
too complicated and too big for me. Notwithstanding all 
the light that has been vouchsafed to us by men who speak 



Art, Science Literature, and Commerce. 261 

with somewhat of prophetic authority on the subject, the people 
still crave for more light. Any one of the changes, it is felt, 
will involve a great leap in the dark. Therefore, the man who 
attempts to argue for one or another should be a wise man ; 
one win. has meditated upon the subject in all its phases ami 
who is not swayed by any selfish views ; who combines a 
mastery of details with insight into principles ; who is sensible 
of the gravity of the issues that are involved and who has 
estimated the cost for Canada of the position he takes ; above 
all, who is too conversant with the difficulties connected with 
any solution to think that an epigram will settle it, or to insult 
by any kind of misrepresentations or rich name those who 
cannot see eye-to-eye with him. 

All that I propose to do, in the conclusion of this paper, 
is to mention the stand-point from which 1 submit that we 
should argue the subject, and to consider briefly the recent ly 
proposed closer commercial relations between Canada and the 
United States. 

1. Our stand-point should be that indicated in the title of 
this paper, of "Canada First." This means the settled convic- 
tion that Canada is not merely a string of Provinces, fortuitously 
strung together, but a single nationality ; young, but with a life 
of its own ; a colony in name, but with a national spirit, which 
though weak, is growing stronger daily : a country with a future 
and worthy of the loyalty of its sons. It means in the next 
place the settled conviction that the honor of Canada must 
always be maintained, no matter what the cost, and that 
Canadian interests are of first importance. Any man who is 
animated by these convictions is a true Canadian, no matter 



262 New Papers on Canadian History, 

what his views may be as to the political form that the 
Dominion is ultimately to assume. 

It may be asked : How can Canada have at the same time 
the position of a nation and a colony ? I answer that a country 
no more than an individual attains to complete self-realization 
at once; but, until it does so, it is allowed a place among the 
nations only by courtesy. As I have already hinted, the War 
of Independence was made much more difficult than it other- 
wise would have been, from the fact that each of the thirteen 
colonies thought itself supreme and the Union secondary. 
Even that war for bare life did not teach the lesson that a real 
Union was necessary to constitute a great State. It took some 
years of deadlocks before the present constitution was adopted. 
We can see how weak the bond that held the States together 
was felt to be — for a long time — even after that, we see it in the 
action of State Legislatures in 1 81 2-1 5, justifying Great Britain 
and Canada, threatening secession and refusing quotas of troops; 
from subsequent attempts at nullification North and South ; 
from political compromises and conflicts at various times ; and. 
at last, from the great war of Secession, when thousands of men 
like Lee and Jackson, who cared nothing for slavery, fought for 
it rather than fight against their own native State. It took 
nearly a century for the great Republic to realize itself, to under- 
stand that its life was a sacred thing, and that whosoever or 
whatsoever stood in the way or interfered with its legitimate 
development must be swept out of the way. It accomplished 
the necessary task. Consequently its present proud position. 
It stands out before the world a power so mighty that we can 
hardly conceive of a force, internal or external, great enough to 






. I/'/, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 263 

threaten it. Well, Canada stands now about where the United 
States stood a century ago. The circumstances are different, 
for though history repeats itself, it does not do so slavishly. 
We have had a different historical development. We have 
more radical racial diversities. We have a less genial climate. 
and larger breadths of land of which nothing can be made. Hut , 
we are near where the Republic stood a century ago. Canada 
is in its infancy and must expect infantile troubles. It must 
go through the hard experience of measles, teething, calf-fears 
and calf-love ; must be expected to spend its pocket-money 
foolishly, suffer from explosions of temper, get slights that are- 
hard to bear and abrasions of the skin that will make it think 
life not worth living. But, it is a big healthy child, comes of 
a good stock, has an enormously large farm, which is somewhat 
in need of fencing and cultivation, and 1 think it may be 
depended on to pull through. It is growing up under stern 
conditions, and, as a Scotch-Canadian, taught in his youth to 
revere Solomon and to believe therefore in the efficacy of the 
rod and the yoke for children, I am inclined to think that it is 
none the worse for that. The climate is most trying to tramps. 
(Geography and treaties have united to make its material unifi- 
cation difficult. Much of its property is not worth stealing: 
but all the more will it hold on with grim tenacity to all that 
is worth anything. 

But, no matter what may be said in its disparagement, it 
is a wide and goodly land, with manifold beauties of its own. 
with boundless resources, that are only beginning to be devel- 
oped, and with room and verge for Empire. Each Province- 
has attractions for its children. One would need to live in it 



26-/. Ncio Papers on Canadian History, 

to understand how strong these attractions are. Only when 
you live among the country people, do they reveal themselves. 
Strangers or tourists are not likely to have the faintest concep- 
tion of their deepest feelings. Thus a man who lives in his 
study, or in a select coterie, or always in a city, may — no mat- 
ter how great his ability — utterly misconceive the spirit of a 
Province or nation and the vigor of its life. It has been my lot 
to live for a time in almost every one of our Provinces, and to 
cross the whole dominion, again and again, from ocean to 
ocean, by steamer or canoe, by rail and buck-board, on horse- 
back and on foot, and I have found, in the remotest settle- 
ments, a remarkable acquaintance with public questions and 
much soundness of judgment and feeling with regard to them ; 
a high average purity of individual and family life, and a steady 
growth of national sentiment. I have sat with the blackened 
toilers in the coal mines of Pictou and Cape Breton, the dark- 
ness made visible by the little lamps hanging from their sooty 
foreheads ; have worshipped with pious Highlanders in log-huts, 
in fertile glens and on hillsides, where the forest gives place 
slowly to the plough, and preached to assembled thousands, 
seated on grassy hillocks and prostrate trees ; have fished and 
sailed with the hardy mariners, who find "every harbor, from 
Sable to Causeau, a home ; " have ridden under the willows of 
Evangeline's country, and gazed from north and south moun- 
tain on a sea of apple-blossoms; have talked with gold miners, 
fishermen, farmers, merchants, students, and have learned to 
respect my fellow-countrymen and to sympathize with their 
Provincial life, and to see that it was not antagonistic but in- 
tended to be the handmaid to a true national life. Go there, 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 265 

not altogether in the spirit of "Baddeck, and that sort of thing." 
Pass from Annapolis Royal into the Hay of Fundy, and then 
canoe up the rivers, shaded by the great trees of New Brunswick. 
Live a while with the habitants oi Quebec, admire their indus- 
try, frugality and courtesy ; hear their carols and songs, that 
blend the forgotten music of Normandy and Brittany with the 
music of Canadian woods; music and song, as well as language 
and religion, rooting in them devotion to " Our Language, our 
Laws, our Institutions." Live in historic Quebec, and experience 
the hospitality of Montreal. Pass through the Province of 
Ontario, itself possessing the resources of a kingdom. Sail on 
lakes great enough to be called seas, along rugged Laurentian 
coasts, or take the new Northwest passage by land, that the Ca- 
nadian Pacific has opened up from the upper Ottawa, through 
a thousand miles once declared impracticable for railways, and 
now yielding treasures of wood, and copper and silver, till you 
come to that great prairie ocean, that sea of green and gold in 
this month of May, whose billows extend for nigh another thou- 
sand miles to the Rocky Mountains, out of which great Provin- 
ces like Minnesota and Dakota will be carved in the immediate 
future. And when you have reached the Pacific, and look back 
over all the panorama that unrolls itself before your mental 
vision, you will not doubt that the country is destined to have 
a future. You will thank God that you belong to a generation 
to whom the duty has been assigned of laying its foundations : 
and knowing that the solidity of any construction is in propor- 
tion to the faith, the virtue and the self-sacrifice that has been 
wrought into the foundation, you will pray that you for one 
max not be found wanting. 



266 New Papers on Canadian History 

This is our country, and this is a period in its history, the 
importance of which cannot be exaggerated. All of us, 
whether living" at home or abroad, owe a duty to it, which we 
shall be base if we neglect. Confederation was a costly mistake, if 
we had not faith in its future ; a mistake that has cost hundreds 
of millions of dollars. Hut, so far as I know, the people do not 
think that any mistake was made. Every day, their national 
spirit is rising. We shall yet be proud of our country. In the 
meantime, let us all be united in heart, though we may not 
agree as to the best means of stimulating the purest patriotism. 
We may dispute whether a closer union with that wonderful 
Empire — of which we are a part -or separation, and the flying of 
a new flag, would be the better way. But one thing is clear; 
the question to be asked and satisfactorily answered, must be: 
What will be for the interest of the people of Canada? That 
includes, not merely their commercial interest, but the enrich- 
ment, purifying and uplifting of the national life. We cannot 
benefit the Empire by impoverishing ourselves. We cannot 
benefit humanity by doing wrong to our country. 

The question of unrestricted commercial intercourse be- 
tween the United States and Canada has been discussed at one 
or two meetings of this Club. It would not become me to take 
it up at this stage, save to say, that it too must be considered 
from the " Canada Eirst" point of view. I am inclined to think 
that Canadians will say little about it until they have the 
terms of the proposed measure before them. The advantages 
of unrestricted access to our natural market are undoubted. 
Indeed, it seems to me simply impossible to doubt that the 
advantages would be equally great on both sides. We have 



. ///, Science, Literature, ami Commerce 



•6 7 



always had the satisfaction of feeling that the fault lias not been 
ours that the intercourse lias been restricted. We have never 
terminated reciprocity treaties, though we have proved that we 

could get along without them. There is. besides, a standing 
offer on our statute book that has never been taken advantage 
of for the lowering of duties all round. 

In the meantime, I trust that the liberal offer which Great 
Britain, with the consent of Canada, has made for a temporary 
adjustment of the fishery imbroglio w ill be accepted at once. 
Then, those possible complications that, under the present state 
of things, may arise at any moment, owing to the unauthorized 
action of individuals, will be averted, and the whole subject ot 
our relations can be discussed calmly. No righteous man or 
woman in Britain, Canada or the United States, wishes any so- 
lution that is not fair and honorable. In this J ubilee year of 
our Queen, in a time when the power of the bonds that bind 
together the members of the Knglish-speaking race is being 
felt all round the world, as it never was felt before, it would be- 
an irretrievable calamity, a sin that posterity would never 
pardon, should there be a quarrel over fish. 






THE ADVANTAGES OF COMMERCIAL 

UNION TO CANADA AND THE 

UNITED STATES. 



ERASTUS //V.I/. /.\\ 



i .hi address delivered at a reception to 

/ Lieut.-Gov. Robinson of Ontario. 




HK question of Commercial Union 
between Canada and the United 
States is an exceedingly simple one. 
At the present moment, both coun- 
tries have a high tariff, and a staff 
of custom-house officials along the 
border to enforce it. It is now pro- 
posed that there should be no tarift 
whatever between the United States and Canada, that there 
should be no custom-houses, and that the barriers that 
have hitherto prevented the freest intercourse between the 
two countries should be completely abolished. The propo- 



2jo New Papers on Canadian History, 

sition, while exceedingly simple in its statement, is freighted 
with consequences of the greatest import to both countries. 
It is of rare occurrence in the history of communities, for men 
to assemble and discuss a question of such magnitude as 
that of Commercial Union. It is difficult to conceive of a 
topic of deeper interest, or of wider range, than that which 
purports to change the economic relations of two countries 
so vast as the United States and Canada. Recalling great 
events in history, their importance is measured by the conse- 
quences that have resulted from them. The Crusades, the 
Reformation, the English Revolution, the withdrawal of the 
American Colonies, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic 
wars, all stand out in bold relief, because of the momentous 
consequences to mankind that resulted from them. 

The American Revolution is probably, of all others, 
the event that has had the most direct and most important 
influence upon the English-speaking race. 

In this New World, productive forces have worked out 
consequences which are almost beyond human computation. 
It seems as if, in the unfolding of the Providence of God, the 
discovery and development of America was the one thing 
needed to fulfill the destiny of His creature, man : for, without 
this discovery, mankind would never have reached his present 
material, intellectual and moral progress. 

The growth of the forces that contribute to the world's 
freedom, to the easy sustentation of life, to the advancement 
of education and religion, has been immeasurably enhanced by 
the settlement of the English-speaking race on this continent. 

It is not necessary to discuss whether this great develop- 



Arty Science, Literature, and Commerce. jji 

ment would have taken place had the allegiance of the Ameri- 
can Colonics been maintained with Great Britain. Whatever 
opinion may be entertained on that point, the fact remains 
that up to this period, the United States have not only demon- 
strated the power of a government of the people, by the 
people, and for the people, but they have shown a degree of 
material progress far surpassing that of any other nation. 
Notwithstanding many and most serious drawbacks — of a 
struggle for self-preservation unparalleled in history — the pro- 
gress of the United States in all that makes a nation great, 
rich, powerful and influential, challenges the admiration of the 
whole world. 

Not alone does it challenge the admiration of the whole 
world, but it attracts emigration on a scale that has never 
yet been witnessed. This very year, people and their wealth 
are pouring into American ports. Skilled labor and inventors 
seek these shores, where Providence, in a most lavish manner, 
has endowed the land for the benefit of mankind. 

The question of commercial union between Canada and 
the United States is of the utmost importance to the people of 
Canada, and they should rise to an adequate comprehension of 
its magnitude. It is not a matter of present politics, nor does 
it affect the principle of protection or of free-trade. It does 
not alone embrace the present condition of the whole country, 
but its future, and that of our children's children. Com- 
mercial union should not be approached in a dogmatic manner. 
or in a selfish and niggardly spirit. Conclusions should be 
reached only after careful consideration. To decide upon a ques- 
tion such as that of the enlargement of the international relations 



2j2 New Papers on Canadian History, 

with a country so vast as the United States, is akin to a decision 
on the question of predestination, regarding which, as you well 
remember, Charles Lamb remarked : " That there was a good 
deal to be said on both sides." 

While the world at large watches the progress of the 
United States with admiration, there is a general disposition to 
attribute their marvellous growth to the form of the government. 
While duly appreciating the natural advantages which the 
American Republic possesses for the working out of the 
problem of self-government on the grandest scale, the general 
disposition tends to attribute its material development to the 
genius of its people — because of their self-reliance, energy and 
hopefulness, qualities not necessarily resulting from a republi- 
can form of government. How much this has had to do with 
it will be found by a comparison with Canada, which, in the 
same period, under the wise and liberal rule of a monarch)', 
has also made substantial progress. 

The United States, however, have one advantage oxer 
Canada, not of a political character, but which, if it could be 
secured by Canada, would insures her success beyond any ques- 
tion. This advantage consists in unrestricted commercial 
intercourse between the various States. The absence of custom- 
houses between them has done more to make the United 
States a great and prosperous nation than did the republican 
form of government. The arteries of commerce, in a greater 
degree than all else, have served to hold the people together, 
enriching them with the products and resources of each other. 

With a different policy, a policy of isolation of the several 
States, there would have been no progress in the United 



. trt, Science^ Literature* and Commerce. 273 

States such as the world has witnessed. Many of the States 
are poor and sterile, some are sandy deserts, while others can 
produce but one or two great staples. Yet, by .1 commercial 
union with each other, they have all developed material 
prosperity. Mankind in no quarter of the globe has greater cause- 
to rejoice than the inhabitants of the poorest State in the great 
constellation of commonwealths. They rejoice in the fact 
that their commercial condition is so shaped as to enable them 
to participate, without let or hinderance, in the prosperity of the 
more favored States. Through the free interchange of the rich 
products of a vast continent, they all reap a benefit, and 
share in each other's prosperity. 

With these facts before us, let us now consider what Canada 
has gained from her isolation from the rest of the continent. 
Under a different form of government, with a distinctive 
nationality, a commercial condition has prevailed between 
Canada and the United States, diametrically opposite to that 
which has obtained between the various States. Upon the 
whole, commercially speaking, the results have not been 
satisfactory to Canada. True she has made some progress ; but 
this is in great part due to the frugality and energy of her 
people. It is true that her prosperity has been, at times, 
apparently as great as that of the neighboring States, but it is 
equally true that her progress has been spasmodic, and that 
her public debt, her provincial and municipal obligations, and, 
above all, the private indebtedness of her producers, have 
assumed alarming proportions. Of recent years an artificial 
prosperity has been imparted by means of increased taxation. 
followed by large expenditures for railway improvements 



.?-/ New Papers on Canadian History, 

that have developed vast regions of country. These outlays 
have mainly been well directed: they have, beyond doubt, 
brought within easy access stretches of territory hitherto so 
isolated as to be valueless. This apparent increase of the 
wealth oi Canada, during the last ten years, from the doubling of 
railway facilities, is probably greater than that of any one State 
in the Union, but the price at which the investment is carried 
by the people of Canada may well be closely watched. If 
she can, by an enlarged market, higher prices, earn- this 
investment without taxing too seriously the debt-paying 
power of her people, then these large public and private 
outlays will bear profitable fruit. But if the heavy load of 
debt and taxation, now weighing upon Canada, is to be borne 
in the face of declining prices, of a restricted market, and by 
an embarrassed agricultural community, it would have been 
better had such investments never been made. 

Large investments in public works and railway improve- 
ments are justified only by proportionate increase in trade. 
No one thing would so much contribute to the increase of traffic 
as a complete interchange of products between the two coun- 
tries. The building of the Canadian Pacific Railway is one of the 
greatest achievements of modern times, following as it does 
the constant extension of the Grand Trunk system. These 
two great arteries, with numerous other railways, give Canada 
means of communication of the greatest magnitude and import- 
ance, within her own territory, as well as with the United 
States. 

The wonderful system of waterways with which nature 
iris blessed the Dominion, has been made still more 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2jf, 

available by the expenditures <»t vast sums in order to 
connect them one with another. To-day, the Canadian 
farmer is paying the interest on these investments. No greater 
benefit could befall the Canadian tax payer than the stimulation 
of a trade- which would thoroughly utilize these means of com- 
munication. A complete interchange of commodities between 
the United States and Canada, would more than anything else, 
contribute to that object. Any development within the 
Dominion itself would also stimulate traffic and increase railway 
tonnage. These advantages would certainly be largely enhanced 
by the removal of the barriers which now prevent Canadian com- 
modities from reaching the United States markets. No one long- 
ing for the creation of a market could have planned one better 
suited for Canada than that of the neighboring Republic. 

A long residence in New York and a daily contact with 
the people of the American nation, have imbued me with the 
belief that no others are so well prepared to become consumers 
of Canadian products. The country is rich beyond comparison : 
incomes have reached a point far above those of any other 
people in the world. There are more individuals in New York 
who have §i 0,000 a year, or §200 a week, to spend on their living 
than in any other city of the world. More are rolling in 
wealth in the cities of the East and the West than had ever 
been thought possible. American consumers are in a better 
financial condition and are more liberal in their expenditures 
than those of any other country. They want the best products 
of the soil, and no region is better calculated to furnish these 
than the Province of Ontario. 



2j6 New Papers on Canadian History, 

The discussion of commercial union has been the occasion 
for a great display of cheap patriotism. Patriotism, as I under- 
stand it, consists in the love of one's country for the furtherance 
of its best and dearest interests. True patriotism should not 
obstinately stand in the way of the country's best interests. 
Love of British institutions, of British connection, cannot be 
imperilled by a greater development of Canadian resources. 
No sentimental consideration should stand in the way of a 
policy which would benefit Canada. 

It has been said that in order to arrive at unrestricted 
reciprocity with the United States, discrimination would have 
to be enforced against English goods, and that commercial 
union is but a step to annexation. These two objections 
are the two strongest arguments brought against the policy 
of freedom of trade on the North American continent. 
But when we think of the vast interests at stake, and how 
great, to the Dominion, the benefits that the measure would 
bring forth, the interests of the few manufacturers in Great 
Britain, likely to be affected by the measure, are as a drop in 
the bucket. It would well repay Canada to guarantee the profit 
which every exporter of British goods will ever make for the 
remainder of his life, rather than that there should be any 
impediment to a union, comercially speaking, between the two 
great countries of this continent. How many people do you 
suppose would be affected were Canada to admit American 
manufactures free, and still impose a duty on English goods? 
They certainly would not exceed a thousand in number. It is 
doubtful whether there are five hundred establishments in the 
whole of Great Britain that have a large interest in the expor- 



. //■/, Science, Literature, and Commerce. j-- 

tation of their wares to Canada. From a close- acquaintance with 
numerous English manufacturers, I believe that they would 
hail with delight any movement by which the Canadians 
would be benefitted. Better still, if it should happen that 
commercial union would so operate as to determine a reduction 
in the United States tariff — a very likely hypothesis this alone 
would offset tenfold the disadvantages that Canada's discrimi- 
nation against English goods might entail. In other words, the 
demand for British goods throughout the continent — if a 
lowering of the tariff of the two countries was to take place 
would be far greater than under the existing highly protective 
policy which prevails against the goods of all nations, both 
in Canada and the United States. 

All great changes are apt to inflict some wrong in a few- 
isolated cases ; but progress cannot be retarded by such 
consideration. A great railway often plays havoc with the 
symmetry of a farm, cutting it diagonally in two sometimes. 
The enforcement of a universal law affects many an interest, but 
that which achieves the greatest good to the greatest number is 
the standard by which all these matters should be regulated. 
Commercial union with the United States would confer the 
greatest amount of good upon the greatest number, therefore, 
it is difficult to consider with any seriousness the objections 
urged against it. 



It is impossible to embody within a time-limited address 
all that ought or could be said upon this vast question. If a war 
were necessary to secure the great benefits that will be derived 



2jS New Papers on Canadian History, 

from commercial union, such a war would be justifiable. Has not 
Fmgland many a time spent millions of treasure and sacrificed 
thousands of lives for the accomplishment of an object far less 
important than would be complete freedom of trade on this 
continent ? As to the advantages to be derived by the United 
States from commercial union it has been said that they would 
be far greater, from a financial point of view, than those which 
were secured by forcing the Southern States to remain in the 
Union ; which, as we all know, was accomplished only through 
a vast expenditure of blood and treasure. 

It has just dawned upon the minds of thinking people in 
the United States, that Canada was geographically a larger 
country than their own ; and possessed the potentialities of a 
growth quite as complete as that of their own. It would 
redound to the benefit of the United States to aid these by 
every legitimate means. In a certain sense, Canada is a treasure- 
house from which can be drawn the commodities the United 
States need most, and which can be made in the highest 
degree contributory to her progress. If, as Grip in its last 
cartoon suggests, the genius of the age could sweep away the 
long line of custom-houses between the two countries, and, so 
far as trade is concerned, merge them into one, who can calculate 
the progress that would follow from such a change ? With a great 
ready market, Canada would, within ten years, produce five 
times as much as she now yields. If her fields and farms were 
worked to their highest productive capacity; if her fisheries 
and her forests were made to yield the proportion to the 
commerce of the continent which their value bears to the 
total wealth of the world ; if her mines, the giant power that is. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2jg 

now asleep, awoke to the wealth-producing force which they 
possess; and if her manufacturers could shake off the fears 
which now encompass them, and meet the incoming tick of 
prosperity and seek the advantages of larger markets, what 
better prospects need one desire for Canada ? Selling five or ten 
times more to the United States than she now does. Ameri- 
can merchants in turn would enlarge their trade with the 
Dominion. 

Of course, it will be ojected that if the Yankee manufac- 
turer and merchant are let free into Canada the)' will crowd out 
the Canadian manufacturer and merchant. Well, all that need 
be said in reply is : that if the Canadians cannot hold their ov n 
when all the conditions are equal, they don't deserve the name 
of Canadians. It is the first time in the history of that country 
that such a disparaging assertion has been made. If the pluck 
and spirit which conquered Canada has deserted it, it is time we 
should introduce some new blood in the country. 

The talk that any class of Canadians cannot hold their own 
against any other people on the face of the earth finds no echo 
in the minds of our fellow-countrymen who have already found 
a home in the United States. They experience no difficult}" in 
holding their own. side by side, with the Yankees. As mechanics, 
skilled laborers, railroad men, or as occupants of positions of 
trust and responsibility, we find everywhere the native born 
Canadian. Always respected, always self-respecting, sometimes 
somewhat assertive, always self-reliant and abundantly able 
to hold his own in a fair field. Have we ever realized the 
enormous number of Canadains who have already sought the 
benefits of commercial union with the United States. It is 



280 New Papers on Canadian History, 

doubtful if, in the history of any country — especially a young 
country — so large a proportion of the total population has. 
In so short a time, sought a home outside of it. The census 
shows the enormous increase of the Canadian element in the 
American Republic: 

Census of i860 — Canadians in United States, 249,970 
Census of 1870 — " " " " 493,464 
Census of 1880 — " " " " 717.157 
Census of 1885 — ( estimated ) 950,000 

It appears that to this date, fully one million of Canadians 
have taken up their abode in the United States A million out 
of a population of five millions ! What a tremendous proportion 
this is for a country which is making the most desperate efforts 
to attract immigration within her borders ! Surely there is 
something wrong in all this, especially when we recall the enor- 
mous expenditures made, the heavy burdens imposed, to find 
the most promising portion of the population seeking a home 
and a future elsewhere. If commercial union did accomplish 
nothing better than to keep our young men at home, that 
of itself would be a great advantage. 

Not a mother but dreads the day when her boy, her 
precious boy, will look with longing eyes across the border. 
What is the future on the farm for the little blue-eyed baby 
that looks up into its mother's face ? If the little one is a boy 
he will at best inherit his father's fate. The mother knows how 
hard the father has had to work to earn a livelihood ; she also 
knows what frugality must be practiced to enable them to leave 
the boy any patrimony. And the dear mother knows that 



Art, Science, Literature^ and Commerce. 281 

while such a struggle for existence impends, the attractionsacross 

the border arc forever tempting her beloved son from her side. 

But, if the little one in her lap is a t;irl ; it the clear blue eyes 
look inquiringly into the mother's anxious face, what fate does 
she read there? If her brothers and half the boys of the 
neighborhood are leaving the country, how hopeless is her life 
likely to be? The opportunities for a useful womanhood are 
lessened. The sweet love that brightens life may never 
come to her. The delicious odors of the new-mown hay, ot 
the sweet-scented clover, of the forest flowers, ma}- never be 
associated with that most joyous part of life, when love and 
betrothal throws a halo over all the world. The budding 
womanhood will wait in vaih for the companionship that 
should complete her life's joys. 

With that far-seeing vision which is innate to a mother's 
love, she cannot but take a dee]) interest in any measure calcu- 
lated to keep her boys at home, in any measure that would 
secure the happiness and the future of the daughters of this 
promising land. 

No greater calamity can happen to a community than the 
loss of its young men. The statesmanship that makes Canada 
less attractive to them than the neighboring country is 
a failure, no matter how brilliant it may be in other respects. 
Nothing would so much tend to keep young Canadians at home 
than unrestricted reciprocity with the United States. 

Free American markets for Canadian products would bring 
such a reward that contentment and prosperity would inevit- 
ably follow. 




mm 



Tjfe C/ubf/ouje. 



. 



1 y /V 




O the enterprise and patriotism of the 
Canadians resident in New York 
belong the credit for having estab- 
lished a Club which to-day proud- 
ly rears its head among the great 
metropolitan social institutions, and 
whose fame has extended through- 
out the broad Dominion of Canada. 
It has become, under wise and 
liberal management, a great national institution for the further- 
ance of a more complete knowledge of the affairs of the 
Dominion and for the encouragement of her art, literature 
and commerce. It has knit together, in ties of closer friendship, 
the many Canadians who have found their home in the great 
metropolis of the United States. It has become the rendez- 




2S-f New Papers on Canadian History, 

vous of those of our countrymen who visit New York. It is 
the neutral ground whereon prominent statesmen of all shades 
of political complexion have discussed Canada's great future. 
The Club was founded April 30th, [885, and its first home 
was at No. 3 North Washington Square. It was formally 
opened on Dominion Day, upon which occasion its worthy 
President delivered a memorable speech from which I beg 
leave to make some extracts: 

" When it was first suggested that a club, distinctively Ca- 
nadian, should be formed in New York, there were some 
who felt that the attempt might not be attended with 
complete success, and that the objects which could be 
accomplished were both vague and uncertain. It was thought — 
inasmuch as there existed no organization of a similar 
kind in this city — that a combination of interests peculiarly 
Canadian would be a vain attempt. There was no Texas or 
Missouri Club, no Ohio or Pennsylvania Society: and, except 
the New England Society, which only dined together once 
a year, there was no organization distinctively geographical 
and having for its sole object the interests of residents 
in New York from any special section. Nevertheless, 
finding that there were about six thousand Canadians 
in New York, and that a very large proportion of these 
were almost unknown to each other, it was decided that a 
club which would bring them together, could not be but 
productive of most beneficial results, and that a mission of 
practical usefulness might be worked out of the idea, that 
would be helpful to all coming within its influence. 



Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 285 

"Accordingly, a meeting of the Canadian residents in New 

York was called at the Hotel Brunswick. The attendance 
was surprisingly large, and representative in character. The 
first and subsequent meetings indicated an earnestness and 
enthusiasm which was a revelation to those who had origin- 
ated the idea. 

" It is clear to all who are familiar with the position ot 
Canadians in this city, that they are workers. They come 
here with the avowed purpose of making a fortune, and ol 
becoming useful residents of the great city that so heartily 
welcomes them. 

" This organization has for its purpose the promotion of our 
common interests, the improvement of our social relations, the 
cultivation of a more intimate acquaintance with each other ; in 
short, it is called to guide and direct those who hereafter may 
join us, in the pursuit of a career of usefulness. 

» I would commit a great injustice, did I fail to recognize 
the hearty spirit of good-will with which, in this country, 
all efforts for efficient service are welcomed. The treat- 
ment of Canadians by Americans, so far as my observation 
extends, has been characterized by the greatest possible 
liberality and appreciation. The success of Canadians in the 
United States is the best evidence of it. Another indication 
of this prevailing sentiment is to be found in the words of 
encouragement which have been uttered by the press and lead- 
ing men with whom we have come in contact. 

" It is to be hoped that the Canadian Club will foster 
intimate intercourse between former residents of Canada and 



286 New Papers on Canadian History, 

visiting Canadians as it will furnish an effective means of 
making them better acquainted with each other. 

" It will unquestionably bring together men who would 
otherwise have proceeded in their respective paths without 
benefitting from an experience which is to be derived only by 
a closer acquaintance. Suggestions and ideas, which would 
otherwise have lain dormant, will be given shape and life. 
The formation of committees, whose special duties shall be to 
publish facts of material interest upon all matters of import- 
ance to Canada, together with a library of reference, will 
result in diffusing reliable information for the benefit of 
journalists in this country. Public men, members of Congress, 
or others who desire to intelligently discuss subjects relating 
to Canada, will find our Club the fountain-head of informa- 
tion. 

" The walls of this beautiful room, should be devoted, 
during the autumn months, to an exhibition of the works of 
Canadian artists. If Canadian art could but have a chance to 
impress itself favorably upon the wealthy picture buyers of this 
city, and the names of Canadian artists could be made as 
familiar in New York as they are in Toronto, Montreal and 
Ottawa, the Club would have achieved a purpose of the noblest 
and most beneficial kind. 

" The pleasure which such an exhibition of Canadian art 
would afford Canadians, the gratification which the artists 
would experience in being thoroughly appreciated by their 
fellow countrymen in a foreign city, besides its refining influence 
ought to make the attempt worthy of the effort. There are 



. trt, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ->Sj 

other exhibitions of Canadian artistic skill which the Club might 

well encourage. They might take the form of collections from 
the Societies of Decorative Art, of woman's work, which, in 
Toronto and Montreal, have of late years been so successful. 




Jfje/^cepto/j/foo/ii 



Embroidery, fancy work, sketches, and all those delightful 
conceits of woman's leisure and woman's love, would exemplify 
the refinement, skill and taste of Canadian women. 

"With time, still larger conceptions of the duties of 



288 Nezu Papers on Canadian History, 

the Club, will suggest themselves. It is sufficient for me 
to say with what pleasurable anticipation we may look 
to an enjoyment of each other's society, and to the conviction 
that the usefulness of our lives, the completeness and faithful- 
ness of our services, and the growth within us of all that is 
manly and best, will be promoted by such an association. 
Mutual forbearance, hearty appreciation, and a better knowl- 
edge of each other, may confidently be expected to result 
from the formation of the Canadian Club." 

How fully the plans for the Club's usefulness, so well out- 
lined by the President, have been realized, this book in part 
bears testimony. 

The present home of the Canadian Club is at 12 East 29th 
Street. 

The house is one of the few ornate buildings in this part 
of New York. Remodelled for the Saint Nicholas Club, 
which occupied it for the several years previous to its 
removal to Fifth Avenue, it was then leased to the Canadian 
Club for a term of years, and was completely overhauled and 
refurnished. 

The Canadian Club has a membership of four hundred, 
which is steadily increasing. Its aims have been high, and 
probably, outside of the Lotos, no other club has given so 
brilliant a series of literary entertainments. Many distinguished 
American and Canadian men of letters and science have read 
papers from its rostrum. Its art exhibitions have been 
encouraged by the contributions of almost all prominent 
American and Canadian artists. 



. //-/, Science^ Literature^ and Commerce. 28tj 

The Club is a great boon to Canadians visiting New York, 
and that they thoroughly enjoy and appreciate its benefits 
the large non-resident membership roll attests. 



G. M. FAIRCHILD, [R. 




&[ 



Hallway 



CANADIAN CLUB. 



Officers, 1887. 



PRESIDENT : 



ERASTUS WIMAN. 



John Paton, 

Geo. M. Fairchild, Jk 



VICE-PRESIDENTS 

Sir Roderick W. Cameron, 

Thos. W. C. kiih 1 h. 
Thos. H. Allen, M. D. 



sec re ta at .1 nd tre. i si r rer : 

Jackson Wallace. 

102 Broadway, N. Y. 

. I SSIS TA .V T SEC RE TA RV. 

Frederick G. Gillespie. 

BOARD <>E TRUSTEES: 

Thos. W. Griffith, John W. Lovell, 

Frank Ferguson, M. 1). H. Holton Wood. 

Stillman F. Kneeland. 

HOUSE COMMITTEE : 

Jackson Wallace, Chairman^ Geo. E. Duggan, Secretary, 

Thomas W. Griffith, R. B. Cummings, M. D. 

Frank Ferguson, M. D. Wm. J. Palmer, 



Thomson Willing, 
John R. Steven, 
Wm. I. Weldon, 



Franklin C. Fry, M. I). 
James McNider, 
James S. Dumareso, 
Charles Walker. 



MEMBERSHIP ( OMM/ I TEE ; 

W. Ali aire Shor r T,CAairman t Eugene M. Cole, Secretary. 

W. H. Wilford, F. L. R. Secord, 

Charles G. S. Reed, James McNider, 

Charles Walker. 




TfcQufttouje. 



